I sat down on the couch squashed between Clarisse and Calypso. Getting squished by Calypso was fine by me, but the latter seemed like a nightmare from Elm Street. I couldn't complain about the room space though, since every single demigod from the tournament were here in the viewing area. Man, I should've made a conference room for this type of situation. Like a Hall of Justice. We already got a Superman and Aquaman in the room.

Percy, Jason, and Annabeth sat on the other side. I was lucky since everyone else was standing. Frank was next to Chiron and Reyna, while the Stoll brothers stayed in the balcony. Kayla was nowhere to be seen per usual and Piper and Katie were still in the infirmary. There were more people not accounted for. Thalia who rather warn her hunters than hang with us, and Hazel and Nico, who both watched over Will in the infirmary. I do not even have to explain where Kahale was. If I were him, I would be halfway to Siberia by now.

Calypso shot me a look. I guess I was making a funny face and stopped myself. Calypso was my girlfriend, but she wouldn't mind playing my parole officer any chance she got. Not that I minded that though.

Chiron gave a small cough before speaking.

"I gathered the most essential people for this discussion. Before we proceed any further, we must deal with Michael Kahale and his actions against the demigods of both camps."

"We don't have much time." Frank added. "We called for an hour break but someone used the first twenty minutes of it to start their match without permission." Frank said while staring straight at Clarisse.

Clarisse snorted. "What? I made it quick anyway."

Jason ignored Clarisse and kickstarted the conversation. "Kahale should be banned from all activities for Ludi Decem and be forced into a senate hearing at a later date."

"Having a senate hearing might not be the best idea." Reyna interrupted. Her wounds were finally healed, and she started to look like the Reyna we all knew. She continued her thought process.

"There are many Romans who feel as if he did nothing wrong. This includes many senators and centurions."

Jason grimaced before sitting back down. It's been some time since he's been praetor. I wouldn't blame him if he lost his way with the Romans.

"What's Will's status? Is he healing?" Annabeth asked.

Frank stepped up to answer. "I have half of the Apollo cabin from Camp Half-blood working to heal him. Ambrosia and nectar could only do so much. Traditional medicine is the next step. He'll be fine for now, but he's still unconscious."

There was silence right after Frank's statement. The silence would've been unbearable for me if I didn't imagine a little metronome going off in my head. Signaling some sort of sound.

Percy stood up. "Look, I'm not one to play judge, jury, and executioner but I screwed up by defending him the first time."

Percy's face had some shades of guilt. He did fight for Kahale's interests which confused me and probably everyone else. I'm glad he regrets it now, but the damage has been done.

Jason had a hard stare down going and Percy noticed quickly. It reminded me of our time on the Argo II. There were plenty of moments where I thought things would go down between them.

At that moment, I saw a legionnaire make his way to both Frank and Reyna. Whispering in both of their ears.

Percy was addressing everyone, but his eyes were solely transfixed to Jason.

"I made a mistake there, and the best thing to do next is to disqualify him from the tournament.

"No. Absolutely not."

From the shadows, both Nico and Hazel appeared. I doubt they actually shadow traveled. The infirmary was like a few feet below.

Hazel had tears coming down her face. She was one of the very few who got to see Will and judging from her expression, it wasn't good. I only got to see Will as Kahale carried him into the viewing area. The amount of blood was sickening, and the way Will's head swayed back and forth as if he was gone already made me want to hurl.

Nico, however, was resolute. I never saw him so calm. I thought he was cursing Kahale's name moments ago, but he collected his feelings quickly. He really was something else. This should be the worst possible situation for him. I wouldn't even be surprised if he was crying, but he wasn't. The rage he had overpowered any other type of emotion. There was no sorrow, just fury.

Nico walked up to Chiron. Normally, I would laugh to myself since Chiron was so tall in his centaur form compared to Nico, but I couldn't find the energy to do so.

"Kahale stays in the tournament. I checked the bracket and there are only a few matches left before we fight."

Chiron didn't turn anyway. He didn't sigh with his handpicking the bridge of his nose like he usually did when he was stressed. He took Nico seriously and talked to him as an adult, not a child.

"I understand why you want this, Nico, but my mind is made up. The safety of our campers is our top priority, and I mean both camps."

Nico didn't budge at the statement, which didn't put Chiron at ease.

Percy stepped in for Chiron. "I failed by not disqualifying him after his match with Reyna. We cannot make that same mistake again.

Nico looked straight to Percy. "I don't care about your mistakes as a leader. That's on your conscience, not mine. But I'll help you handle your problem by taking care of it myself."

I felt some dark energy flowing from Nico's body. The room got colder as he spoke.

"I'll handle Kahale with or without you. I prefer the latter, so stay out of my way."

Silence filled the room when Nico spoke. It was hard to agree with the kid. However, Chiron found a way.

"I have no doubts that you would handle it, but you both you and Kahale have another match before facing each other. I will not put an unwilling camper in danger because of your thirst for revenge." Chiron said with certainty.

"Who said unwilling?"

We all turned to see Piper entering the room. She was worse for wear. She wasn't the flawless beauty she was before. Her arm was in a sling and she had scrapes and cuts all over. I turned to Jason and thought he would rush straight towards Piper, but he did no such thing. He stood there waiting for her to speak.

Piper walked towards Chiron. "I want to fight Kahale as well. I'm his next opponent and I know I can handle it."

Piper turned towards Nico as she developed a face of pity for him.

"Now you have two campers who are willing to fight him, and I bet disqualifying him will only make him and the rest of legionaries angrier. You wouldn't want a mob to form would you, Chiron?"

Chiron stood there with thoughts swaying in his mind. I could almost see them churning rhythmically. Percy and Annabeth didn't say anything either. They both knew it wasn't their fight.

Chiron finally spoke. "I'll leave it to you two then, but if anybody receives the same or more damage inflicted on Will, then this whole tournament will be called off. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone nodded in unison as Frank walked up.

"That's not the only news, unfortunately. I just got word that many monsters have appeared a few miles north of the camp and they're making their way here."

Everyone was shocked by this news, but I knew better. It seems that Annabeth had the same thoughts as me as her stern face didn't evaporate to worry as quickly as the others. You can't have both Roman and Greek campers in the same place and the same time without attracting some unwanted attention. Our demigod aroma is probably wafting all over the west coast.

While Annabeth and I were thinking about it, the rest of the campers were talking all at once. Frank calmed them down quickly and continued.

"This isn't the worst-case scenario yet. I say it would take another two hours before they reach our doorstep." Frank said.

Reyna joined in. "The number of monsters is small enough to handle, but there could be more we didn't account for."

Frank continued from there. "I need all the tournament participants in winners to join the legion in protecting the camp. Those in losers will stay. We cannot let the camp know of this small invasion."

Frank turned to Jason and Percy. "Reyna and I can't go; can I trust two former praetors on this?"

Percy gave Frank a wicked smile. "Hey, a brother has to help his sibling out from time to time."

Jason patted Frank on the back and moved out with everyone else. Reyna gave Chiron a look stating that he was in control of the tournament for now. The stacked viewing area was no longer a thing as only a few demigods stayed. Hazel and Nico all stayed together. I could see from Hazel's face that she wanted to go. She looked the most worried out of us all.

I sat on the chair a little depressed from that announcement. I didn't want to come off as rude or selfish, but my match was next, and barely enough people were here to watch it. I was happy to see Calypso still sitting next to me at least.

I turned to her. "You're a Titaness at the end of the day. Why not join the battle?"

Calypso laughed. "I'm not fighting for a camp I know nothing about. I'll watch you fight instead."

I gave out a weak smile and Calypso noticed. She turned to see Piper in the practice range trying to get some motion back to her arm. Ugh, she had a knack for reading my mind.

"I know you're used to being part of the three amigos with Jason and Piper, but they need to deal with their problems first." Calypso added.

I didn't give her an answer as I fidgeted around with my new remote in my pocket. It was the key to my victory in the next match. Focusing on my next match was easier to do than focusing on how to help my friends with relationship advice. What would I say to them anyway? I already tried to play therapist with Clarisse and that failed fantastically.

Calypso broke our silence again. "Stop worrying about them, Leo. Instead of the three amigos, how about Los dos compadres." She said while pointing to herself and then me."

"Girl, now you're speaking my language." I said with a wide smile. I kissed her before the Stoll brothers interrupted us.

I ignored them and went for another halfway kiss. I tend to treat every kiss like it's my last.

Both brothers coughed loudly.

"Dudes, we're smacking lips right now." I said between kisses.

Calypso stopped and started to laugh again. "I think your match is next, bad boy. Get to it.

…

I reached the arena quicker than Travis. I wasn't like the other campers with their fancy armor. My defense came from my toolbelt. I didn't really need anything else since the pockets were bottomless pits. I reached out to one of them and pulled out a mint. I'm surprised I still had some left.

The crowd felt superstitious to me. There were muffled cheers and small moments of silence from the crowd. They noticed the lack of participants in the balconies of the viewing area, but they had no clue where they went. That was good enough for me.

Travis finally made his way downstairs. I didn't really get to see his first fight against Percy, but Hazel basically filled me in on all his tactics. I knew how to handle him. This would be an easy fight.

Travis wore a huge amount of armor. Too much armor actually. His Greek-style helmet was massive, and his chest plates had a bronze eight pack on them. He looked like a classic Greek warrior in every sense, which made it even funnier. I couldn't help but smirk at his 300-like attire.

"Don't spartan kick me now, my scrawny frame wouldn't handle it." I said laughing.

"This isn't Sparta, Leo. I'm pretty sure the Romans are more into Gladiator anyway" Travis smirked.

I liked the Stoll brothers. They knew how to take a light joke from time to time. I couldn't approve of their pranks though. I heard about the one with the centaur blood. Nasty stuff.

Chiron looked at both of us, and we nodded in unison. I pulled my remote from my tool belt and was ready. Travis pulled out a celestial bronze sword.

"Begin!" Chiron yelled.

Travis ran towards me at a blistering speed. I knew the children of Hermes were fast, but this guy was a bronze blur. If I weren't fast enough, I probably would get spartan kicked in the chest. Of course, that didn't happen as I pressed one button on my remote and the whole arena shifted.

Below Travis, a mine went off and sent him flying. The blast was enough to cause a huge amount of smoke to appear as paint shells rained in the arena. I saw Travis laying on the ground with paint all over him. His confusion was enough for me to strike with my hammer.

I aimed for his chest plate, and he dodged quickly. With the press of a button, he rolled into another mine which blasting him again.

These blasts were not enough to knock him down for good but distorting him was good enough for me.

Travis took his helmet off for a second. He was breathing heavily after only a few moments of fighting.

"What the heck Valdez! Those are my mines!"

I smirked. "Dude, did you just say mine mines?"

"You know what I mean!" He screamed.

I tossed my remote in the air like a toy before having them drop in my hands again.

"They were yours. Now those mines are mine. Gods, that is weird to say. I repurposed them. I noticed that there were a few that didn't go off yet, so I reconfigured them to this remote and took full access and control away from you last night." I spoke.

Travis couldn't believe it. The former smirk he had evaporated.

"Also, I took out the condiments last night and replaced it with some gunpowder. Never was a fan of ketchup."

Travis rushed forward screaming as I parried his hits with my hammer. Hazel was a handful in a fight, but Travis was predictable with his swings. I didn't know if I could chalk that up to misplaced anger or a lack of skill. It didn't matter to me.

I side-stepped his sword swing and pushed him into another mine. Smoke filled the arena, and the crowd couldn't see the fight at all. Great, now no one would be seeing my awesome takedown of Travis.

If the crowd couldn't see me at my best, then I'll end the fight quickly enough.

I checked the smoke around me and saw nothing. Travis was nowhere to be seen. Did I miss him or something? Then, from the shadows came a kick to my shins. I fell down easy as a sword narrowly missed my torso. I rolled out of the way and escaped the smoke. Honestly, I should thank that smoke. The lack of visibility stopped that sword from striking my body.

Travis emerged from the smoke. He had his helmet back on and was ready to fight.

"That's weird" I thought to myself. He must have wiped the paint shells off his armor because it looked brand new to me.

Travis ran forward and attacked. His attack speed was slower, but he fought in a completely different style. Instead of random sword swings, he was slashing at my legs. He went for more blunt blows and made sure to stay on me. It wasn't better by any means, but it was different. Different enough to catch me off guard as he nicked my arm.

I pulled out my shrinking shield with quickness and blocked three shots. The reverse impact panels were charged up, and I shield bashed Travis with all my might (Which wasn't a lot, I'm built like a stick)

Travis was pushed back into the smoke, and less than a second later he reappeared and was on the attack.

"What in Hades is going on with this white boy!" I half-thought before Travis rained down on me with sword swings from above. He was back to his old style and was winning the fight again. All I could do was defend with my shield and hope to push him back.

Travis wasn't even breaking a sweat. I had moments where I could see his face beneath the mask. He was alert but not sweating. I swear he was breathing hard a moment ago.

Then it hit me. Well, two things hit me. First, Travis hit me in the head with the blunt of his sword and the truth hit me like a runaway freight train.

This bum was cheating. In a match against me of all people!

I didn't want to expose him. Snitches end up in ditches in my experience. Plus, I didn't need to snitch, I had a plan of my own despite my brain rattling within the walls of my skull.

I rolled out of the smoke again and willed flames around me. I haven't felt this way since my fight against Hazel yesterday and that wasn't a good feeling. I threw out two pillars of flames from each of my hands. My right hand scorched the right side of the arena, and my left boiled the left side of the arena.

The flames triggered the last remaining mines, and explosive paint went everywhere. The only safe area was the middle of the arena where the smoke was at its heaviest. I knew they were in there. I just had to force them together.

I saw Travis leave the smoke and run straight towards me. Crap, that wasn't part of the plan, but that's fine. He was feeling the heat and wanted to get out of the kitchen, but Chef Leo was cooking up a storm.

I slowly brought my hands together and my flame pillars were about to meet in the middle. Travis ran as fast as he could, but he was moments away from being burnt to a crisp.

"Either say Uncle, or I'll smoke you out! The both of you!" I screamed.

Travis's eyes panic. He knew the jig was up.

"Uncle!" He screamed before I brought my hands to the ground to stop. All the smoke in the arena had risen and nobody could see what was going on. Screams overtook the whole coliseum. The crowd hated me yesterday, but now I knew I was screwed.

With everyone distracted. I ran up and saw both Stoll brothers sitting in defeat.

Conner was looking fresh when he saw me. I couldn't say the same for Travis as he had ash all over him. Should've worn sunscreen buddy.

"So, which one was I fighting first? Travis or Conner? I honestly can't tell with you two.

They both pointed at each other. Creating more confusion.

Conner turned to me "I don't want my brother to be disqualified. It was my fault."

Travis interrupted his sibling. "It doesn't matter. I still lost to him, so it's my fault. I'm out of the tournament."

I sat with them. "Fellas, I'm not going to let you twin terrors argue with each other. It's hard taking a side when both sides look almost exactly the same."

I turned to them both and picked them up. "I'm no snitch, guys. I'll keep this to the grave. Besides, I don't blame Hermes's kids for bending the rules a little bit. That's like getting mad at me for holding a monkey wrench."

Travis couldn't believe it and grinned out of respect. "It's the height you know."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Travis stood up with his brother. "I'm an inch taller than him. Percy could always tell."

I laughed. "Well, I wish I knew that before the match started. Now let's jet before Reyna tears us a new one."

Both of the brothers smiled at my words as we made it out of the arena before the smoke cleared up. We made it out like banditos.