Ch36
Magnus spent the next few days helping around camp, preparing for the upcoming battle. Everyone was on edge as they trained and prepared fortifications around camp. In his spare time however, he trained with Chiron using Gram and practiced his powers. Chiron trained him and pressed him to his limit every day, it wasn't easy but he was feeling like he was gaining some sort of progress with his powers and Gram.
As the days went by the mood at camp got more and more apprehensive until one day Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and to his surprise Nico came flew down riding on pagasi. He and Chiron immediately ran to greet them.
"Chiron Kronos is rising, also Quintus is Daedalus," Percy said as he stopped to take a deep breath.
Chiron sighed, "I thought so well let us all prepare."
"Wait what about Pan? Grover you are three weeks overdue," the satyr Silenus said. Grover flinched as he was about to speak but Chiron cut him off.
Chiron turned and gave an annoyed look at the fat Satyr, "The quest for Pan can wait our camp is about to be attacked." The fat Satyr shut up and walked away while Grover excused himself to see Juniper.
"We are preparing more war I hope you are all prepared," Chiron said. The four of them nodded as Chiron walked away.
When Chiron was gone Percy ran up to him and gave him a hug, "Hey Magnus how are you man?" Percy said his bright green eyes.
"Great I am glad to see that you are all well," he said. Percy smiled at him while he noticed his cousin avoid his look awkwardly and Nico looking like he wanted to punch someone.
His heart raced as he looked at his cousin, she avoided his gaze as he stepped forward. "H-Hey Annabeth I am glad you all came back safely."
Then to his surprise, Annabeth ran up to him and hugged him. "I missed you," she whispered into his ear.
He smiled and saw Percy give him a thumbs up, "Thanks I am glad you are safe Annabeth," he said, hugging her back. Annabeth pulled away and for a second he thought he saw tears in her eyes.
"Well um lets go help out we will be fighting soon," Percy said as he gave him a pat on the pack. Annabeth and Nico nodded.
It was probably the biggest military operation that anyone had seen at camp. Everyone was wearing battle armor and helping out their cabins. Annabeth excused herself as she went off to see her cabinmates. They saw Grover talking with Juniper while Tyson was helping the Hephaestus kids prepare the defenses by loading boulders and placing them next to the catapults.
"So how was your quest?" He asked as they walked around and viewed the various fortifications.
"Good, Rachel said hi; though Kronos is now in control of Luke it was pretty crazy in all," Percy said with a sigh. "Oh and Annabeth has calmed down; I think she is better."
"That's good to hear; hopefully things work out between us," he said with a sigh as he watched Will Solace order around various Apollo campers. "Did anything in particular happen while you all were gone?
"Yeah hopefully things work out. No, but I tried talking to her when I could and I think she is starting to come around a bit. She did not like Rachel but that is a story for another day. Oh can you do me a favor and invite her to my birthday party," Percy said awkwardly avoiding his gaze. "I know I invited you but it might make things easier if you can convince her to come."
"Um sure, I'll see what I can do," he said with a smile as they approached Chiron.
"Hello you two I hope you are both ready," Chiron said.
"Thanks, I saw Kronos. I looked straight into his eyes. It was Luke but at the same time it wasn't," Percy said.
Chiron ran his fingers through his bowstring. "He had golden eyes I guess and in his presence time seemed to turn to liquid?"
Magnus didn't know what Chiron was talking about but he saw Percy nod nervously. "Yeah how could he take a mortal body?"
"I do not know Percy. To fuse the divine with the mortal is something that cannot be done without Luke's form turning to ashes," Chiron said with a dark look. "It would be one thing to take a mortal form but to fuse his body is something I have never heard before."
"Kronos said his body had been prepared," Percy said as he looked around. "He is planning something I know it."
"I don't know what that means but for a time, he appears to be confined to a human form. Hopefully, it binds and restricts him," Chiron said as he checked his arrows.
"Chiron if he lead this attack," Percy said but Chiron cut him off.
"I do not think so my boy. I would sense if he were drawing near. No doubt he planned to but I believe you inconvenienced him when you pulled down his throne on top of him." Chiron then looked at them both reproachfully. "You and your friend Nico son of Hades."
Crap Magnus thought as he and Percy exchanged a nervous look. Percy looked embarrassed as he cleared his throat. "I'm sorry Chiron, I know I should've told you but-"
Chiron raised his hand, "I understand why you did it. You felt responsible for the whole thing and wanted to protect him. But you two, if we are to survive this we must trust each other and work together."
Chiron opened his mouth as if to say something more when the ground underneath them started to tremble. Everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing as Clarisse barked a single order. "Everyone lock Shields!" Then the Titan Lord's army exploded from the Labyrinth.
Now he and Percy had been in many fights before but this was a full scale battle. A dozen Laistrygonian giants erupted from the ground yelling loudly. They carried shields made from flattened cars and large clubs made of tree trunks with large metal spikes. One of the giants swung his club at the Aries cabin and their phalanx and sent the entire cabin was thrown sideways like rag dolls.
"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled as the catapults swung into action. Two boulders were thrown at the giants one of the giants blocked a boulder but another was knocked down. The Apollo archers fired a volley of arrows at the giants causing them to roar in pain.
However, just as it appeared that the giants were overwhelmed the next waved surged out of the maze. Dozens of Dracaenae in full battle armor emerged and charged at the campers. Some of the monsters activated the traps that the campers set and disappeared into golden dust as they were hit with Greek fire. They saw the Athena cabin charge at the monsters and he saw his cousin Annabeth engage one with a sword while Tyson fought another giant.
"Go!" Chiron yelled at them as he fired his arrows at the monsters.
He and Percy nodded. Percy drew Riptide while he drew Gram and activated Sigurd's armor. He felt the black armor activate around his body but did not activate his helmet since most of the campers would not recognize him.
"Yeah lets go kid," Gram said in his head.
He nodded as he watched in and saw Castor the son of Dionysus engage with an enemy demigod. "Look out!" He said as the enemy tried to kill him, Castor looked up just in time as the enemy's weapon flew out of his hand.
"Thanks," Castor said as he ran to help him defeat the enemy demigod.
"No problem be careful," he said. Castor nodded and went back to help the other campers
Well I think this counts as an emergency. He took out the vial and drank about half of it. Oh Father give me the strength to defend my home and family. He recited the prayer in Old Norse and the hairs on his neck stood up.
A strange sensation passed over him as his eyes shot open, it was as if he had drunk a hundred red bulls in one sitting in a cold blizzard storm. His body fidgeted non stop, he wanted to release all of this energy somehow.
He swung Gram at a bunch dracenae as they approached him decapitating them with a swing of Gram. His danced in the air as he ran like a lunatic in the battlefield swinging and slicing at any enemy he could get his hands on.
This feeling, it's exhilarating. He wanted to laugh as he cut his way through the enemy ranks, his body wanted to do one hundred different movements and he reacted according creating a path of destruction around him, he was going all out berserk.
He then felt the ground rumble as he looked at Percy and Nico. Nico appeared to be concentrating on something and before he knew it the ground trembled and opened up to reveal the corpses of various undead warriors from various time periods. Nico's skeleton army engaged the enemy monsters. He then watched as Percy and Nico took out a large hellhound with Greek fire causing the monster to go out in flames.
Just when it seemed like the battle was balancing out again and that they had a chance to win an unearthly shriek echoed out of the labyrinth. Magnus turned and his eyes widened as Kampe shot into the sky, her bat wings fully extended as she landed on the top of Zeus's Fist. She let out a shriek before throwing a large rock at the Athena Cabin's tent.
"Annabeth!" He screamed as he and Percy ran towards her. His body reacted as he ran to grab her, he was so fast his cousin nearly pulled away thinking he was an enemy.
She looked at him and Percy and gave them both a hug, "This might be it guys," she said as she drew her sword. "Nice fighting with you both."
"Yeah but lets not give up yet," he said as he felt Gram glow with energy.
"Magnus what is that sword?" Annabeth asked.
"It was a gift," he said as he stabbed a monster that came a little too close.
"We will try and explain later," Percy said.
Annabeth nodded and together the three of them leaped into the monster's path. Kampe hissed at sliced at us. We dodged and Percy tried to distract her while he and Annabeth tried to land blows on her. However, Kampe dodged their attacks and they had to move out of the way to avoid a cloud of poison. Just being near the cloud made his eyes burn and his lungs felt like they couldn't take in enough air.
"Kid activate the helmet! It should protect you from the poison," Gram yelled in his head
He nodded and quickly activated his helmet. As he felt the helmet around his head his breathing returned to normal and his body slowly relaxed.
"We need to end this quickly," Percy yelled as he dodged an attack from Kampe. He looked around and saw that everyone was down or fighting, or too scared to move.
"We can't keep this up," he thought as Kampe tried to attack him and Annabeth. He blocked the attack and swung at her but she barely managed to avoid the hit.
"Kid use your powers maybe you can disarm them all and then unleash my full power to destroy this creature," Gram said
"But I've never disarmed this many," he said as he lunged at Kampe who barely avoided his attack
"Just try it! Your friends cannot hold her forever," Gram said. "Then take her out with my full power."
He swore as he looked around and saw many campers on the ground or wounded. He felt his blood boil. He did what Chiron had taught him and focused on the weapons, not just the ones in Kampe's arms but all of the enemy's weapons, the energy inside of him was building up and he had to let it go. "Drop them now!" He yelled loudly as he felt his voice reverberate throughout the area.
His voice reverberated throughout the battlefield as the arms of all of the enemy forces flew out of their hands and onto the ground. He was breathing heavily but he did not let the pain distract him as he gripped Gram. He felt the words come into his head as he pointed Gram at Kampe and began chanting in Norse. "Demonic blade, complete. Show me your pride, this is the dawn of destruction. Oh demonic blade of the sun unleash ruin Bolverk Gram!"
He felt the energy in his sword increase and glow brightly as he chanted what came into his head while the energy around him as the short swords he wore with the armor danced around in front of him. When he finished the incantation he felt Gram fly out of his hand and at Kampe along with the various smaller blades.
Kampe's eyes widened open, she did not even have time to react as the blade impaled her and drove a hole right through the middle of her body. She let out a scream as he repeatedly thrusted his sword into her. Kampe screamed as her body turned to dust.
A wave of fatigue hit him as he staggered and nearly fell to the ground. "We did it," he muttered.
"Hey watch out your time playing berserker is almost done," Gram said as he picked up the sword.
"No problem," he said as he retracted his helmet and nearly fell to his knees the energy slowly left his body.
Annabeth came to help him up. "Magnus, what was that?"
He turned around to see both Annabeth and Percy staring at him in shock along with all the other campers nearby. A cheer then went up from the campers as they charged at the enemy forces with renewed strength.
Then it happened, Grover opened his mouth and the most horrible sound he had ever heard came out. It was like the world's worst trumpet player playing into the world's loudest speaker. The forces of Kronos who were already disoriented covered their ears and were left open by the campers.
"Guys I'm going to help Grover and Nico you two help Chiron," Percy said pointing to Chiron who appeared to be battling a large giant.
He and Annabeth nodded as they headed towards Chiron who appeared to be out of arrows. "Drop it!" He yelled at the giant who raised a large boulder. The giant appeared to be frozen in place as he yelled out his command again, "I said drop it!" This time the giant dropped the boulder giving him enough space to jump at the creature and stab it in the chest with Gram.
The giant roared in pain as it fell to the ground and disappeared into golden dust. "Chiron are you ok?" He asked as he nearly staggered to the ground
The centaur nodded, "Yes just lightly bruised. I am glad you are realizing your own potential and powers."
He nodded while Annabeth looked at both of them. It must hurt not knowing what is going on but I will try to tell her what little I can. The earth rumbled and a large earthquake reverberated throughout the area. He looked over at Percy and Nico and he could tell that the Labyrinth had collapsed and hopefully the remains of the Titan's forces with it.
We did it. His vision blurred as he deactivated his helmet, he heard Percy and Annabeth scream his name as his vision began to spin and he fell to the ground unconscious.
There were too many deaths on their side. Among the dead was Lee Fletcher from Apollo among others.
The days passed by as a blur for him. Going berserk took a lot of energy from him and he spent a few days in the infirmary unable to move from exhaustion. After he was well he helped rebuild the camp where he could along with his cousin and Percy.
One day after he was returning to the cabin from helping out with the reconstruction he felt a powerful presence, "That was an extraordinary display of power," said a familiar voice.
He turned around and his eyes widened as he saw Queen Hera dressed in formal attire standing in front of him. "Queen Hera," he said with a small bow. "What brings you here?" He asked trying to sound as polite as possible.
Hera looked at him and gave him a small smile, "I just wanted to thank you for helping our family. Thanks to your help our children were able to defeat the enemy. You have done a lot to prove your loyalty to us."
"Th-Thank you," he said not knowing what to say. But I would not want this woman as an enemy.
Hera nodded, "Yes I do not know what the Fates have in store for you and my husband is not sure of having you here but you have proven your loyalty."
"Thank you Queen Hera. I am loyal to this camp, it has been my home and the campers are my friends," he said choosing his words very carefully.
Hera nodded, "I can tell. I do not know what the Fates have in store for you but you will accomplish great things, not just for our pantheon. I helped reach out to your dad to help him get you just to let you know. Feel free to get to know him for in the future you may need his help," she said before bidding him farewell and disappearing.
"Well that was weird," he said with a sigh. So she got into contact with my dad, I wonder why?
"Magnus!" Annabeth yelled.
He turned and saw his cousin run towards him. "Hey Annabeth," he said.
"Magnus I haven't seen you all day," She said awkwardly. "I um wanted to thank you for um helping us and all," she said avoiding his gaze.
"Its alright I enjoyed helping out," he said.
Annabeth smiled at him and to his surprise went and hugged him, "Sorry for treating you the way I did," she whispered into his ear. "I couldn't stand the thought of losing you again or seeing you hurt."
He hugged his cousin back, "It's alright, I know you must have been worried sick."
Annabeth pulled away and punched his arm, "Yeah I was don't ever leave me like that again."
"Ok sorry!" He said with a small laugh.
Annabeth smiled at him, "Oh that armor you wore and that sword where did they come from?"
He bit his lip and avoided his eyes, "I-I can't tell you. I'm sorry but I swore on the Styx not to tell other people."
For a second Annabeth looked hurt but she just sighed, "Fine I understand, but you called your sword Gram. Isn't that a sword from Northern European mythology?"
He felt his cousin's piercing gaze on him but he just smiled, "Well you are the wise girl I am sure you can figure it out."
To his surprise, Annabeth smiled and laughed, "Fine I will. I can't have you and Percy keeping all these secrets to yourselves after all."
"Well if you do then me and Percy won't mind telling you. If you can find out of course," he said.
Annabeth laughed, "Challenge accepted." She then sighed and gave him a sad look. "I am still not happy that you and Percy are hiding things from me but if it is for a good reason then I will try to get over it."
He nodded, "Well I am sure you can figure it out Athena always finds a way after all." Annabeth smiled at him when he remembered something. "Oh yeah Percy's party is coming up right after camp are you coming with me?"
His cousin's face turned red as she looked to the ground. "I-I don't know I have to help out here and all."
He sighed, "Come on I am sure you can enjoy one night with us while we celebrate Percy's birthday."
Annabeth looked away as if she didn't know what to say. "I don't want to impose on him; besides he would ask me if I wanted to go."
"Well if he does make sure you come," he said.
Annabeth bit her lip and nodded, "Fine I'll think about it but I am busy and have things to do."
"Don't worry its not like we will party all night," he said. Besides if you don't come who knows maybe Rachel will come he thought but he decided that his cousin may not find the joke funny.
"Fine I'll think about it," Annabeth said.
Samirah Al-Abbas did not know what to expect for this assignment. The newly made Valkyrie glared at the blonde girl in front of her who looked at her as if she were an insect that needed to be crushed.
"So do you understand the orders?" Gunilla said coldly. The daughter of Thor looked at her with a look that she had received from many people throughout her life, pure hatred.
"Yes, you want me to help train this son of Frey and protect him," She said in a neutral tone looking Gunilla in her eyes.
Gunilla nodded, "Yes, you and Thomas Jefferson Jr. will teach him while me and Mallory go and do something important."
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Fine, I'll see what I can do."
The daughter of Thor looked at her with contempt, "This is an order from Lord Frey and Lord Odin, don't screw it up."
Samirah only nodded, "Understood." She didn't want to lie to her mortal family but she would find a way to do this one way or another.
Gunilla nodded and leaned closer, "You kind might as well just go to the Greeks but betray Asgard and I will make sure you suffer," she whispered.
It took all of her strength not to hit the daughter of Thor, "I understand." She was only being polite, she didn't want any more enemies here. Hopefully this mission goes by smoothly