Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, or Trials of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

5. I Lead The Charge

When we landed in what was left of New York City, we found Ouranos waiting for us.

I guess when Amaterasu knocked Zeus out, his barrier to keep us away fell, because there was no resistance in our flight.

The entire time, I stood still, and stiff as a board on Kyros, clutching, and loosening a grip on Viribus, in necklace form. Call it a nervous tick, but I look at it as trying to put the adrenaline somewhere. Because that's exactly what I felt. A rush. I think every demigod feels that way, especially walking into a battle that you know is going to happen, and not some sneak attack.

Even mortal fighters feel it. Your soul and spirit flare up, and start pulsing through the rest of your body, putting it on high alert, preparing you for potential punishment. It's trying to keep you on your toes, aware of an attack that might come your way.

Right now, this was far more potent than Atlas. Walking into that, I felt nervous, and my mind was going haywire. Today, I'm not nervous, but I am on edge. Because I know that everything rides on this. This is the last time, and the results are final. Whoever loses here, dies.

It's always been that way. Rarely will you find rules in a demigod fight, or a battle with a monster. But it's for sure going to happen in this case. This feels more definite. Every demigod knows that there will always be monsters to come after you. That's just a given. But psycho Primordials come once in a lifetime. If you can manage to defeat one, for good, then you've really accomplished something.

After Konstantin landed, and the troops from several pantheons got off, he shifted into human form. About that time, Kyros swooped in, and we followed suit.

I could see Ouranos from our position. And just like Zeus predicted, or knew, in this case, he was alone. No army of storm spirits, no seduced demigods, or titans, or giants, or even an equally crazy brother from the depths of hell. It was just him, alone with his spear, sitting cross legged on the city ash.

We hopped off Kyros and walked towards the front of the massive lineup, the eight of us standing just in front of Sigurd's crew. Viraj, Diego, Konstantin, and James carefully eyeing the man they'd heard so much about. Now he was real. Not just some figment of Sigurd's imagination.

Ouranos took our formation as a signal to get up. He smirked, and stood, dusting his toga off. He had to shout a little for us to hear him, considering we stood forty feet apart.

"I was getting tired of waiting!" He said, "Almost took the initiative and wiped out the human race before you'd have a chance to save it!"

I wanted to come back with something clever. But to be honest, he was right. We were so occupied with Typhon...I'm not even sure we'd have been able to stop him from doing as he pleased. He showed mercy by waiting.

I hate that he's so powerful now. Before he was weak, and a sniveling coward. But now, he's managed to crawl and connive his way to some strength.

So I simply retorted with, "You probably should've went ahead and done it! Now you won't get the chance!"

He laughed before my sentence was even finished, "With this lineup? I must say, I'm quite impressed. You managed to deceive plenty of poor souls to fight for your lost cause, son of Odin!"

Sigurd snarled, "I just used your trick against you! That's all!"

Ouranos ignored that, and clicked his tongue. "Big mistake. Now, you'll be responsible for all these lives. I mean, I was going to get to them eventually anyway, but you've managed to speed up their deaths. I'd apologize if I were you."

"I'm only sorry that I wasn't faster with it. Had I done this sooner, we could've nipped you in the bud a long time ago."

"Ah, but you wasted your chance. And now, I'm stronger than ever. You're all nothing to me." He stretched his smile, and pointed his gaze to me, "Except him. Why don't we get rid of the backup and settle this one on one, Matthias? Like the ancient times."

I said nothing.

"You know you want it." He pressed, "You know you want to come after me, with nothing in the way. I'm offering you a chance to prolong their lives just a bit longer. You're a 'hero' right? You'd do anything to save a worthless lump of flesh, even a degenerate. Why refuse?"

I knew in my heart, I wanted to accept that offer. That was the selfish thing to do, and probably the stupid thing to do, because realistically, I can't beat him. Feeling his aura up close, and seeing how he's changed physically, going from a frail child to a towering Zeus-look alike, all of it's starting to sink in. He's stronger than me. The only chance I have, is if we attack together.

So if he's stronger than me, then he's stronger than just about everybody behind me. Which means, there will be casualties.

Before I could say anything, Harper stepped forward and glared at Ouranos, "You go after Matt, you go after all of us. We're not going to stand by when every person here has a good reason to kill you." Her hand came up to grip the Heavenly Diamond knife she'd sheathed in her waist strap. "I haven't forgotten about my brother."

Ouranos groaned, "Still stuck up on that? He made his choice, brat. He could've ran and left it all behind, but he chose to stay involved. He paid the price for it."

At that Harper's aura flared inside of her, utterly furious. "Yeah? Well you're about to pay for what you've done. You're dead."

Ouranos treated her threat like child's play, waving his arm dismissively at it and shaking his head towards me. "How many people have to die for you, Matthias? Your father wasn't enough of a hint?"

His comment shouldn't have affected me. But I lost my cool. My eyes widened and every part of my body tensed up, urging my aura to come out as well. I practically yanked the Master Bolt's aura out of the watch to mix it with my own, forming a red and blue outline around myself.

It surged and blew the wind back, creating a tornado with the city ash. "DON'T SPEAK HIS NAME!" I roared.

Just as I bent down, Malachi reached out to grab me, "Matt, stop!"

But it was too late. I'd already pressed off the ground and dove after him, leaving the army twenty feet behind in my stead.

Malachi caught up with me, throwing caution to the wind and joining me in a combined attack. In my head, I knew it was the wrong move. A brash move that went against my training with Zeus. I was supposed to be over this, his ability to get in my head and set me off. But that comment...anything about my dad is an easy way to get me riled up. Especially coming from the person that killed him.

"YOU BASTARD!"

I swung my fist down to meet his jaw, and Malachi did the same, only reversing course by bringing his upward, on the opposite side of his father's face. Both of our fists didn't connect. At least, not with our intended target. They connected with his palms when he blocked our hits.

Dual shockwaves burst around us as Malachi and I struggled in our highest forms, while Ouranos was laughing. Barely tapping into his power.

With a simple tug of his arms, he wrapped his hands around our fists and tossed us over his head, like throwing two sacks of meat. Malachi and I flew in the air and watched as the army charged, roaring a deafening shout as they approached Ouranos.

That was when I saw the flash. The man in the top hat, the one that I saw in my vision. He took my father away when he died. He was death, the grim reaper.

It was just a mere frame of a second, but I saw him, plain as day. He stood in between Ouranos and the oncoming army of one hundred and fifty, and he was looking at me, closing his old timey watch. Their time was up.

I knew what it meant. "NO!"

But my words weren't heard. Ouranos flicked his head at the horde, and treated it as such. Like a little wave in a video game, where you're supposed to kill zombies to survive. He scoffed at them, and summoned his spear to his hand. With a spin, he prepared a monumental strike that probably slipped past every person in the frontline's view. It was a near blur even to me.

The spear glinted in the sun as he slammed it into seven of the troops, from Diego's pantheon, the Mayan demigods. It was like watching a katana cut through watermelon, or a knife to a rare steak. Ouranos sliced right through those people, like it was nothing.

My heart shriveled in horror. I'd only seen one demigod get killed by Heavenly Diamond before. Hendricks, the son of Hecate, and it was at the hands of Levi, who stabbed him with the Heavenly Diamond knife that Harper possessed now.

The same thing that happened then, happened here. The poor demigods that got hit were erased from existence, completely. Their long lives ahead of them gone, and rendered into nothing but green dust, gone with a simple breeze. That was the sum of it, that was all it took to wash them away from everyone's sight. A breeze.

"STAY BACK!" I screamed, "STAY BACK, EVERYONE!"

I didn't even have to ask them to do it. The force of Ouranos's strike sent everyone flying back on their rears, unable to remained balanced. The reality of his new strength was starting to hit everyone, and it wasn't good. He could wipe us all out.

If Zeus couldn't do it, then we really don't stand a chance.

Even now, being this close to him, I can make out the sum of Zeus's efforts in that fight. A small scar across Ouranos's cheek. That was all the permanent damage the King of the gods, the strongest of us, had done.

We couldn't exceed that.

But realizing what he'd done, the anger forced the doubt away, and I charged at him again, aiming for his back.

Ouranos reached around and caught me by wrapping his entire hand around my neck and slamming me to the ground. The sheer force behind his body and weight was significant, and it was crushing me on every level. Even slamming me on the ground sent a painful throb through my nervous system, and nearly dulled my aura. The red and blue flickered weakly when he did it.

"They just died for you, Matthias." He growled, "What did I tell you? You didn't want to listen!"

"Get off of him!"

Harper came sideswiping, and took Ouranos off guard, landing the first clean strike on the Primordial with the Eros sword. Even though it didn't cut him, or even scratch him, the brunt force of the blow against the spot under his eye managed to knock him off me enough, and loosen his grip.

I kicked him in the chest, and he was off me completely. The army had regrouped from their stumble, and got back in the fight. I wanted so badly to use telekinesis on them and get them away from here, just push them back with my mind, but by the time I thought about it, Ouranos was already preparing another strike.

"Pests!" He said, and thrust his hand at the army, shooting a lightning bolt from his palm. The blue arc ripped through a line of demigods, a dozen or so, and killed them. One strike was all it took, and more lives were lost.

Rage filled me. Not only that, but pure despair. Gods, with just the wave of his hand, the swing of his spear, he's taking them all out. A few more and our army will be reduced to fucking nothing. It'll be a massacre!

Thankfully, just as he started to summon another lightning bolt and take out another dozen men, my group started joining the fight and jumping in to help, simultaneously.

Amaterasu flew up beside his head and prepared to drive her fist through it. But Ouranos had gotten too fast, so he saw it coming, and brought his fist up. But in the fashion of our team, we started finally using our combined might. We began fighting as one, just like we said we would.

Sera entered her Absolute Zero form and trapped Ouranos's hand with a block of ice, creeping up on the city ash like a gopher tunnel and shooting up to clamp Ouranos's hand, leaving his face vulnerable.

Amaterasu only needed a second's delay to deliver it. Her fist crossed Ouranos's cheek and dealt a good blow, knocking his face to the side. Malachi recovered from the earlier throw and came in to punch the opposite side of his face, knocking it back in the direction it first started.

Now we had him dazed. Ouranos jerked his arm and broke the ice trap, but Percy was there, immediately, to follow up and keep him distracted. Wave after wave of water came from thin air and funneled into a drill shape to throw itself at Ouranos. It was like rapid crashes against a shore, boom, boom, they hit Ouranos in the back, in the shoulder, in the face, everywhere and in between, annoying the hell out of him.

I prepared to join in as well, but as I started, I felt Sigurd grab my shoulder, "Matt, help me! Use your mind!"

I wasn't sure what he meant at first, until I saw that Ouranos could no longer move his legs. Sigurd was giving his all to telekinetically stop his movement, and stall any attempt at teleporting or running away. Very smart.

And I knew he couldn't hold it for long. Sigurd was very strong, but with Ouranos being juiced up on Adam Tree steroids the way he is, he can only last for about ten seconds with the current mind link. I attached my aura to Ouranos's and poured aura into my control on his upper body.

He groaned in frustration at the combined attack, not to mention Percy was still drilling in that water, and Harper was dousing him with energy strikes from the Eros sword, hails of pink, glowing lines smacking him in the face left and right. Even Talon and Annabeth were doing what they could, stabbing Ouranos in the side with their weapons. It wasn't doing anything, obviously, but we were getting under his skin, making him lose his cool. It would all lead up to a dangerous attack that would hurt him. You have to start small, and then go big.

"Together, Sigurd! Send him!"

He understood, and with combined effort, both of us willed him to go into the sky with all our might. And he did. The invisible hands we wrapped around him with slung him towards the blue sky at the speed of light. He became a small dot in an instant.

"Amaterasu!" I called, "Energy attack! Meet me up there!"

She nodded, and blinked away, her aura chasing Ouranos's acsension.

I followed both of them, reattached my own aura at the atomic level and reattached it thousands of feet in the air, hundreds above Ouranos's path, because I knew in the insant it would take to teleport, he'd already be meeting me. Sigurd and I really didn't hold back on that throw.

Like I planned, I met Amaterasu, side by side, and we both charged up energy blasts to hit Ouranos with, who was quickly approaching orbit.

She had a bright orange ball forming in her palms, bright like the sun. Which is fitting, considering her title and all. I was doing the same, only mine was red, and I was actively gathering energy from Ouranos's aura, taking it as I pleased.

At a hundred feet of distance, I ordered the release, "NOW!"

Amaterasu and I pushed our intertwined hands forward, and both condensed balls of aura burst. Bright explosions of orange and red grew to the size of the atmosphere itself, forming pillars of light that met in the middle and slammed into Ouranos.

He changed course very quick. Even faster than when Sigurd and I threw him. As soon as the beams hit him, he went crashing down past the atmosphere bubble and down to Earth. I didn't even have time to worry about forming a barrier to protect the planet.

Luckily, Viraj and Sigurd were on the case. They both had excellent teleknesis, and timed it just right to form a big dome around Ouranos's impact, so the Earth wouldn't get blown up.

Amaterasu still had her hands pushed out, her breathing quickened. "We got him."

"Yeah, that was a direct hit." It wouldn't be enough though, obviously. I knew we couldn't celebrate. But we could follow up with another attack. "Come on."

Instead of flying down with my fists forward, superhero style, I reversed my body to form a pencil dive, like the kind you'd do in a pool, and willed myself to rocket towards Earth faster than light. In the split second that my body shifted, Amaterasu, out of mind reading, or sheer instinct, caught on to what I was doing.

Again, we delivered a joint attack, planting ourselves in Ouranos as he lay on the ground. My boots in his face, and Amaterasu in his ribs.

A colorless explosion rang out around us. I jumped off and Amaterasu did a backflip, into a graceful landing.

With Ouranos down, what remained of the army must've thought that this was their chance, because they let out a combined roar of effort and dogpiled on Ouranos, literally jumping over each other to get to him, concealing the Primordial's body underneath them.

My body tingled with nervousness, that was a dumb, dumb move. "NO!"

Arya tried to jump in, but Sigurd pulled her back with his mind, "Arya, don't!"

Trying to take inspiration, I locked onto the army as best I could, and prepared to yank them away from Ouranos. But again, too late. He was faster than I was.

That move cost them. Ouranos's aura flared and disintigrated several of Diego's group, and on the outer circle, whatever wasn't burned alive, was thrown off dozens of feet into the air and landed painfully on the broken asphalt of what once was a street in Manhattan.

Ouranos stood tall in the wake of the deaths, with two of the Mayan men in the palms of his hands. He was holding them by the head like basketballs, holding them high off the ground as they kicked and struggled.

Ouranos smirked, "My turn!"

With a squeeze, he popped the Mayan demigods' heads like blueberries. Blood flew out of the crushed skulls like juice, splattering all over the ground and separating the neck from the head. Ouranos tossed the bodies aside like they were pieces of trash.

Diego lost it. His aura spiked, and I heard him let out a growl that would rival even my voice. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

The wind burst around him and lifted him into the air like a springboard, to the point where he towered over Ouranos in position. From his hand, coiled a white lightning bolt, small, but full of condensed aura and electricity, the same shape as the Master Bolt, almost, just thinner. Diego threw the bolt at Ouranos with all his body weight, and Ouranos smiled, not taking it seriously in the slightest.

He weaved his shoulder just an inch or two, caught the bolt as it missed him, turned around with its momentum, and threw back to sender. It all happened so fast, like a sliding door pushing a confused person back onto the street. One second, Diego's bolt was in his hand, the next, it was hitting his chest and knocking him into next week.

We didn't let up though. Viraj decided to take action, motioning for his own people to rally behind him.

"Brothers, together!" He shouted, "Kamaand!"

That must've been a command for a spell, because together, he and his fellow Order of Shiva members summoned lassos made of blue energy, spun them around their heads, and threw them at Ouranos, like they were trying to wrangle a bull.

But Ouranos quickly brandished his spear and cut the lassos down in mid air, opening his mouth, he unleashed a big pillar of his own energy, like a cannon straight from the stomach. I'd never seen him do such a thing before, and it was really weird, to be honest.

I jumped between Viraj and his men with my shield, ducking down on my knees and placing the round metal in front of me. I felt the force of the blast hit the shield, and the heat above my head, but felt no burns. Viraj and his men had been protected.

But that didn't mean I wasn't going to be pushed back. Ouranos must've put some extra effort into it, because I felt my feet lifted off the ground, and my body go shooting into Viraj's gut, hitting he and his men like a bowling ball.

We went flying. Through blurry vision, I saw my friends try another group attack, with what remained of the army mixed in with them. Ouranos must've been getting annoyed with the swarming techniques, because his body turned into a blur, that darted around and targeted each of my friends. For several frames of a light speed slideshow it seemed, I saw him slam his fist into everyone's gut, Malachi, Harper, everybody all doubled over on their faces.

Ouranos's face was calm. He was zoned out, completely in the moment, like a top tier athlete, under the pressure of the entire world to win a gold medal. Only he wasn't. He only had the pressure of his own expectations, and he was trying to win our lives. We were participating in the worst sport in history, and we were on the losing team.

With complete composure, he used his mind to summon the bodies of every soldier in the army of the Great Convergence, save for the leaders like Viraj and Konstantin, to himself, like a magnet. Shiva's Order went flying, all of Camp Asgard's forces went flying, Konstantin's little squadron, Diego's men, all of them were pulled to Ouranos at the same time, and from there, it was an absolute bloodbath, unlike anything I've ever seen.

It was truly starting to sink in, personally, what we were dealing with here. The danger that we were in. He was too fast, too strong, too much on every level. The way he moved...he could've killed us all from the start. And the only reason he's letting loose now, is because he wants to get our numbers out of the way, and narrow it down to the big boys.

The horrifying sequence was so quick. In real time, it may have been half of a second, or even less. They were there, and then they weren't. Ouranos swung his spear wildly in all directions, as if trying to slice a bee in half. The result was every single person in his vicinity being killed, brutally, and erased from existence. Demigods were cut in half, heads were chopped off, chests were sliced open. Even if he nicked your finger, or your cheek in his offswing, he still got you. Because when you're a demigod, one cut, even the tiniest one from Heavenly Diamond, can kill you.

And that's what happened. Within a moment, Ouranos stood over a mountain of bodies, beginning to fade into green dust. Dozens of lives, experiences, memories, hopes, and dreams, all gone like nothing. And he liked it. He looked proud of it.

He kicked at the clump of green dust in front of him and put his hands out to his side, "Now that the riff raff is out of the way, I can move on to the fun stuff." He shook his head, disappointed, "Honestly, son of Odin, you thought these dead fools were going to be able to take me on? That wasn't even a warmup."

Everyone was stunned. Speechless, unmoving, with their mouths wide. All of my friends, Sigurd, Arya, Viraj, Konstantin, and James stood side by side, in horror at what had just happened. Diego was still nowhere to be found.

Then the mutters came. People were lost in their own world of sorrow, mainly the members of the Great Convergence, because it was their men and women that had just been wiped off the plane of existence.

"M-My brothers..." Viraj whispered, his voice breaking.

Konstantin's hands were shaking, "H-He killed them. Every last one..."

James's face couldn't be seen, but I could hear fear in his voice. "Oh God..."

And Sigurd, he didn't say a word. But his expression was one I'd never seen before on his face. He was shook to the core. More than a year's worth of efforts, all pointless. I could tell his expectations had been severed and destroyed.

As for me and my friends, we all exchanged glances at each other, nothing but pure dread in the air. We silently said to each other, this thing isn't looking good.

Ouranos's shoulders heaved up and down with laughter, "I told you, time and time again, that whatever stands in my way, or whoever stands in my way, will be destroyed. For millennia, I've dreamed of enacting this very plan, and now that it's come to fruition...nothing can stop me. None of you. So...I think it's time to knock a few pieces off the chess board." He lifted his hand and pointed at Arya, "You'll be the first of this bunch to die."

Sigurd snarled like a hound, "Just try. See what happens."

"I won't try. I will do."

He brought his foot up and stomped it on the ground, having a different effect than I expected. Instead of the Earth rumbling or quaking, a gust of wind was sent to us, knocking everyone off their feet and making them slide back on the ash. Everyone except myself, and Arya, who was now flying into Ouranos's grip.

He caught her by the neck, and she couldn't break free. Arya was tough. She was a viking girl, and Sigurd's wife, after all. But Ouranos was too strong for any of us individually. If I didn't jump in now, she would be in serious trouble.

"Ouranos, let her go!" I dove after her. Ouranos lifted his leg in the air and jerked it, sideswiping me in the head with a kick and trapping my chest under his foot, pressing me into the asphalt.

He smiled down at me, "You get to watch another person die for you, Matthias."

Then it happened. Electricity poured from his shoulder, down to his hand, and the lightning coursed through Arya's body, burning skin immediately. She screamed, for just a second, and then it was cut off. There wasn't even any blood, the lightning was too hot for any to even drip on the ground without being turned to steam. She was rendered to a mere skeleton in seconds, everything else destroyed by the lethal electricity.

I stopped beating against Ouranos's leg in pure shock, my head immediately turning to find Sigurd. He'd gotten up to watch the end result, and he looked shattered. Heartbroken.

But then that look turned into rage.

"YOU BASTARD!" A bright green erupted around him, and Ouranos was thrown off of me. Arya's skeleton was knocked out of his hand. There was no strike, or sword swing, or any of that. Sigurd's telekinesis was strong enough to actually move Ouranos.

Sigurd boomed off of the ash like a muscle car, speeding towards Ouranos with his cutlass drawn, his face red and tight with fury. I couldn't even imagine what he was feeling at this moment. The amount of rage and adrenaline...it had to have amped him up two fold. His wife just died in front of him, I couldn't blame him doing what he did in the slightest.

Sigurd's cutlass clanged off of Ouranos's Heavenly Diamond spear as the Primordial deflected each blow, stepping back as Sigurd jumped and lunged forward, grunting each time he attempted to ram the metal in Ouranos's gut.

But Ouranos was treating it like a child trying to swing at him with a stick, casually batting away his ferocity with a simple swat. "So feisty! Where was this vigor before, son of Odin?"

"SHUT UP!" Sigurd roared. In a moment that surprised even me, he managed to squeeze his cutlass in a tiny spot between the spear and his arm, just enough to fit the thin blade through, and slam it up into Ouranos's chin.

It clearly shocked him more than it hurt him, the fact that Sigurd was actually able to land a blow. Regardless, Ouranos seemed stunned, and that offered enough time for Viraj to dive in.

"Kamaand!" He said, commanding the lasso spell again. A glowing blue rope appeared in his hand, and he only spun it around once over his head this time, and threw it.

Either Viraj had incredible accuracy, or he was very lucky, because the lasso caught Ouranos perfectly around his arms and midsection. I'm gonna go with a little bit of both on accuracy and luck. The lasso, upon contact, shrunk itself and squeezed the life out of Ouranos, crushing his arms against his sides and trapping him.

"Now!" Viraj screamed, "There's the opportunity! Attack!"

Ouranos wasn't having it. He sounded like a caged beast under the wrappings of Viraj's lasso. My friends jumped in the air after him, but Ouranos began thrashing wildly, pulling Viraj clean off his feet and spinning him around. Ouranos, quickly thinking, was able to come up with a strategy to knock everyone away, even in his bad position.

He used Viraj as his personal wrecking ball. Spinning his own body around like a corkscrew and making Viraj crash into everyone, including me.

We all slid on our rears in the ash, forced to watch as Ouranos jumped back a step to pull Viraj towards him, using his size and leverage against the poor Hindu demigod. Once Viraj flew into his strike zone, Ouranos smashed his head against Viraj's, letting out a horrible sound, which told me he might've cracked Viraj's skull.

Konstantin roared. He was the first to get up and try at Ouranos. He pulled out a thick sword and gripped it with both hands as he came down, trying to capitalize on Ouranos's temporary distraction, and binding, still tied in the lasso.

But with Viraj's grip gone on the blue energy, with one squeeze, Ouranos was able to break free and grab Konstantin by the throat. I thought for sure he'd kill him, but Konstantin was quick enough to know what was coming, and shapeshifted into a small bird, to fly free from Ouranos's iron tight grip.

And then finally, out of nowhere, Diego joined the fray again. I don't even know where he came from, but he jolted from whatever pile of ash he'd landed in, and lunged at Ouranos, another coil of lightning in his palm.

I knew that Ouranos would kill him instantly, so I teleported over to him, grabbed his shoulder, and tried for the first time, to teleport somebody with me. It was a long shot, since I hadn't practiced it much, but to save his life, I was willing to try.

Locking onto his aura, I broke it down to a million little fragments, and did the same with my own. Moving them across the field as fast as I could, our bodies followed them. Upon being there, I put them all back together where they belonged, all under a nanosecond. Sounds pretty crazy, and in fact, it is. It takes a lot of practice to be able to do all of that, essentially putting a puzzle together, that fast.

Once we blinked in our new spots, Diego turned and frowned at me, "What was that for?!"

"I'm trying to save you, man! We need to play this smart-"

I didn't even finish the sentence. Ouranos had already cleaved Diego with his Heavenly Diamond spear.

He hit him in the shoulder and it sliced through Diego's body like thin air, all the way to his hip. Diego's face was one of shock, his eyes wide open, allowing me to see the light leave his eyes.

Then Ouranos yanked his spear out of his body, and placed his palm in front of Diego's face. Out of his palm, came bright, burning blue light, that vaporized the leader of the Mayan Camp. Just like that, probably the most powerful demigod of that pantheon, was reduced to dust. And it happened right in front of me.

Another person dead.

Everyone saw, and charged in outrage, all in a circle against Ouranos. There wasn't anything we could do at this point. Everything was in a frenzy. We were emotional, fighting with our feelings instead of our heads, and it made us look like chickens with our heads cut off. Ouranos was doing whatever he wanted with us.

He jumped and dodged threw several attacks, grabbing my friends like they were dodgeballs and throwing them behind him, thousands of feet in the air and plummeting down towards the outer borders of what used to be the city. First Malachi, then Harper, Amaterasu, and so on. Once he threw Talon and Annabeth, I knew I had to save them, because if they fell on the ground from that far of a distance, they would die instantly. Harper and the others could survive.

I flew up and grabbed the two of them in each arm, and held them. Talon looked at me, unsurprised. He probably expected such a thing to happen.

"We gotta change the playboard, man! Everyone's dropping like flies!"

"I know!" I said, "I-I'm thinking! I'm trying to think of a plan!"

"It wasn't a good idea to bring all those demigods." Annabeth said, her lips tight, "They didn't stand a chance. Heck, we don't stand a chance!"

"Don't say that! I'm gonna figure something out!" But as I said it, I knew I wouldn't. How do I find a solution to this? I can't undo what happened, and I'm failing in stopping it from happening further. I just gave a speech to people that are no longer here. They don't exist anymore. It's my fault, too. I gave them false hope, and I led them into that hell.

I shouldn't have even let Sigurd go through with his recruitment. I should've known it would only end in disaster.

Without saying another word, I dropped down to the ground and gently set Talon and Annabeth there. Afterwards, diving back into the fight, behind Ouranos.

Sigurd was charging in again, but once Ouranos felt my aura come at him, he quickly disposed of the son of Odin, knocking him aside with the back of his fist.

I collected my own aura into my fists and coated them in red. When I reached Ouranos, I swooped in, clamped my fists together, and tried to hit him on the back of the skull.

At the last second, he turned and caught me, snatching me out of mid air and swinging me forward, slamming me on my back, with my boots facing towards Camp Half Blood.

There was enough looseness to pull my wrists free and scramble up. During my scurry, I pulled Viribus off my neck and unsheathed it, forming the familiar white wooden club. Right on time too, because right in front of me, the spear glinted blue in the sunlight.

On instinct, I pulled Viribus up in front of me and blocked the shot. The two indestructable weapons clashed and shockwaves burst all around us, sending wind left and right like small tornadoes. Ouranos leaned closer, so we could be face to face.

"You're going to have to do something soon, Matthias!" He said, "Or you'll just keep watching your friends die!" His eyes flickered to the right, "Like this one!"

I felt Sigurd's aura come running up. Instead of letting him go through with it, I let go of Viribus with one of my hands and clocked Ouranos on the chin, hitting him as hard as I could. The blow was enough to stumble him, and give me enough time to pull Sigurd back, and teleport him away. Huh, I was getting pretty decent at that.

We reappeared twenty feet away from the original spot. Sigurd didn't even look at me, he had hate filled eyes targeted right at Ouranos.

He tried to run again, but I caught his waist with my arm, "Sigurd! Sigurd, wait!"

"Let go, Matt! I have to kill him!"

"You're not using your head right now, man. We need to play this smart!"

He stopped struggling as much, but that didn't mean he calmed down. "He killed Arya. He killed my men...that had families, hopes and dreams...he wiped out all of those campers, from several pantheons! He must pay for what he's done!"

Sigurd used both elbows to knock my arm aside and sprint at Ouranos, all the meanwhile, I tried my best to stop him. "Sigurd!"

Ouranos regarded him like a bug, and casually brought his foot up and kicked the son of Odin, right in the face. You would've thought an asteroid knocked Sigurd upside the jaw, because he hit the ground hard, and bounced on it several times before flipping into a fetal position.

Then Konstantin came back for more, this time, as the giant dragon he flew us in on. Comparing their auras was like comparing an ant to a elephant. There was no chance for the Slavic demigod whatsoever.

With his jaws open, he aimed for swallowing Ouranos whole and chewing him up. But such a tactic wouldn't work, unless Konstantin had Heavenly Diamond teeth. Ouranos stopped him by the snout with his hand, and with a single push, he forced his dragon head below the city ash, into the ground.

The brunt force against the head must've been enough to shock Konstantin out of his shapeshifting, because he morphed back into human form. Ouranos peeled him off the ground and held him by his bushy hair, delivering a flurry of blows to the face, stomach, and chest, that battered the poor guy to near pieces. I was surprised his body wasn't falling apart from the bullet-like punches.

Blood flew everywhere from Konstantin's mouth. In a last act of defiance, he spat a wad of it on Ouranos's face, then smirked. Ouranos promptly finished him off by stabbing him through the gut with the spear.

There Konstantin sat, nearly in the middle of Ouranos's weapon, hefted up like a trophy. Sitting like a khebab, Konstantin faded into green dust as well, just like the others. Another pantheon leader, dead and gone.

"Oh my gods..." I whispered. My mind was ten steps behind what was even going on right now. I wasn't properly processing the fact that over a hundred people had died in the span of just a few minutes. Powerful demigods too, gone in green dust. It didn't compute, the laws of Heavenly Diamond, and the fact that those people didn't even get to see an afterlife.

Diego, Konstantin, Arya...gone.

Sigurd was on his knees, a fist planted in the ground like a pillar, the other tight on his cutlass. "Damn it!" He looked around wildly, as if wanting to find something to blame, "James! Do something! Use your power!"

James hadn't really done much during the fight. Or, now that I think about it, he hadn't done anything at all. He stiffened at Sigurd's order, and it was clear to me that he hadn't done much fighting. At least, not on this caliber.

"I-I can't control it!"

"Yes you can!" Sigurd yelled, "You can do it!"

Ouranos wiped Konstantin's blood off his face, "No, he can't!"

Then he went after James.

"No!" I shouted. My mind was blank on what to do. I just froze up, losing all sense of strategy. So when my brain activated again, I decided to throw Viribus like a boomerang. Ouranos, of course, batted it away easily.

Then he slid to tower over James. Ouranos reached down, ripped James off the ground and gripped his body by the neck and the legs. He jerked his shoulders, and pulled his arms apart to tear James in half.

It's so bizarre to say. But that's exactly what happened. He tore James in half, literally, intestines trailing in the middle, guts pouring out, organs, blood, everything. He was in two pieces now.

Sigurd was furious, "JAMES!"

One by one, everyone was falling. My heart began racing, because I kept wondering who would be next. Is it gonna be Harper? Talon? Sigurd? Ouranos, at this point is just picking everyone off like a stalker in the bushes with a sniper rifle. We're virtually defenseless.

No, we're not. It's the mindset. The frenzy. We can fight back, but we have to collect ourselves and come up with a proper plan. We can't lose ourselves.

So when my friends reemerged from Ouranos tossing them aside like dodgeballs, I put my arms out and touched each of their minds.

Guys, stop!

They were quick. They stopped immediately, all of them looking at me with confusion.

"What, Matt?" Percy said.

"Shh..." I placed my finger to my lips, and pointed to my head. I figured this way, we could come up with a plan more covertly.

Listen guys, Viraj is down, Sigurd isn't in the right mindset, Konstantin, Diego, and James are dead. We need to come up with a real plan here, not just go at Ouranos like a bunch of savages.

Nobody had a chance to respond, because from the sky, lightning rained down and struck each of them. But it didn't hurt them. Instead, it surrounded them with its light, and trapped them, a lot like Viraj's lasso, only this was more potent. None of them could move, and their words couldn't reach me.

"Hey!" I said, "What the hell?!"

I went up to Harper's lightning cage and beat my fist against it, but nothing budged. "Harper!"

"Don't try to free them."

I turned slowly. Ouranos was there, across from me, flicking his hands back and forth to get James's blood off. It worked, and he remained squeaky clean, despite having wiped out dozens of people, and literally ripping the man in half with his bare hands.

Once done, he picked his spear up from the ground and rammed the blunt end in the ground, "They'll be fine. I'm not going to kill them first." He pointed at Sigurd, "He's next."

Sigurd had taken a beating from Ouranos, and his adrenaline was running out. Ouranos's hits, and that last kick to the face had done its number on him. He could barely hold onto his cutlass, each time he tried to get up, he would fall back down to his knees. It was clear that his vision was disoriented, he was seeing triple.

I pulled with my mind on the entire area, gently, just enough for Viribus to come flying back to my palm. I didn't even need to look, and I caught it. The wood smacked my hand and I squeezed, getting into a fighting stance. Legs wide, arms low, eyes forward.

Ouranos said nothing, but he lifted his chin higher, and smirked. I was ready for a flex of the muscle in his shoulder, because that's when I'd jump after him. The top scenario in my head was that he'd try to execute Sigurd while he's still down. Maybe cut his head off. I needed to be there when that happened.

The flex of the muscle came. I could see the action before it came, and my reaction came a picosecond later. Movements happening faster than light, too quick for any human eye or piece of technology to track.

It took a blink. I reappeared below Ouranos's swing and held Viribus above my head, ready to protect Sigurd. But Ouranos's movement stopped halfway. Above him, something strange materialized in the air, almost instantly.

Boom. It was there, and then it was hitting Ouranos on the top of the skull, pressing his entire body in the ash and broken asphalt. One second he was there, and then he wasn't.

The shockwave of the blow caught me off guard, and blew me into Sigurd. I wrapped my arm around his midsection to keep from anything further damaging him. Somehow, he landed on my chest and I tucked myself tight, rolling on something hard and grainy.

When it was over, I gently let Sigurd go, placing him on his side on the ground. I spun around, pushing myself up to my feet at the same time. In the new distance created between us and Ouranos, I saw what had hit him.

A giant, glowing blue fist made of energy hovered over Ouranos's crater, the top of his back the only thing visible from the dirt now. I recognized that color, and immediately associated it with Viraj. He must be back up from that horrible headbutt.

My eyes trailed behind the blue fist, and found the Hindu demigod, standing with his hand outstretched, and his forehead caked with fresh blood. Even from here, I could tell that his breathing was quick and labored.

"Takarav!" He shouted, which must've meant smash because that's what the fist responded with. It dove itself into the ground and hit Ouranos on the back for a second time.

Then Viraj brought his hand back and tucked his elbows close to his stomach, forearms laced next to his shoulders. "Kavach!"

The fist began expanding into more blue. Forming an arm, legs, chest, and a head. The outline of it looked like one of the buddha statues I've seen before. You know, the plump guy with his eyes closed, wearing funny clothes. Only this buddha was slightly different, in that he was leaner, taller looking, and he wore clothes similar to Viraj's. Something told me it was the visual avatar of Shiva. Or an aura manifestation of Shiva's appearance. Either way, it looked really cool, and packed a lot of energy. Not to mention the thing was like thirty feet tall, at least.

"James!" Viraj barked from inside the Shiva avatar, standing in its chest. "James! Use your power while I have him trapped!"

James? What the hell is he talking about? James is dead.

But then again, he was out cold when James got killed. So he must not be aware of it.

Or, he was aware of far more than myself. He must've been able to feel something within James's dormant body that I couldn't, because the 'corpse' literally obeyed Viraj's order. That, or James's body put itself back together at the same time Viraj shouted by mere coincidence.

Golden light shone from the bottoms of James's halves, and formed thin strings between them, like lines of silk. Slowly, his body was pulled back together, and he was pulled to his feet, as if someone tied a rope to his neck and yanked it. James's eyes were glowing the same color, along with the cross-necklace dangling near his chest.

I couldn't believe it. Within seconds, James went from being dead, to appearing very much alive. Had Viraj cast another spell to use James's body as a vessel for a mirror attack? No...sensing his aura, it was alive. As alive as it was before Ouranos ripped him in half. How did that happen?

Thinking on it, Sigurd did tell me that the Christian God gives James power, on occasion. He has trouble controlling it, but when he can, it makes him extremely powerful.

Ouranos stood right up, putting himself into the path of a joint attack. Viraj's Shiva avatar enveloped the twelve-foot tall Primordial with its hands like he was an interesting fish, concealing him completely to the point where he could barely be seen through the blue aura color.

My head couldn't keep up with the two things that were happening at once. It chose whichever was the flashiest in that second to turn to. James's aura reached a boiling point where it had to be released, and it did. At the same time, Viraj opened the avatar's hands to reveal Ouranos to a blast of golden light that came from James.

In that moment, I knew it was my job to keep the result of that destruction within the area in front of me, never behind me. I placed a telekinetic barrier around the circumference of the blast, and kept it there, having to use all of my mental strength. Because James's blast was no joke. I fully believed Sigurd now when he said that James got his power from God himself.

The golden blast engulfed Ouranos entirely, and hit Viraj's avatar, burning the blue and causing it to disintegrate, up until it reached Viraj, who jumped out at the last second, avoiding any burns himself.

When it reached its peak, I had to close my eyes to keep them from being blinded. It shone through my eyelids, and then it was over. Pitch black, once again.

I opened my eyes, to find that the barrier worked. The Earth hadn't been destroyed. But the bad news was, Ouranos hadn't been either.

Shiva's avatar was gone, and Ouranos stood in the same spot, with his spear protecting his face. When he lowered it, it reminded me of those people that get sunburns, but they were holding a magazine or something, and that spot on their skin was protected, leaving an outline of the magazine inside the burnt areas.

That's how Ouranos looked now. The blast rendered him to Atlas, essentially, burning his skin from head to toe, making it red and crisp, sizzling like a skillet. Everywhere but his face and neck, wherever the spear was, it protected him. I was honestly surprised that the blast didn't disintegrate him to nothing.

And just like that, James's aura peaked and fell rapidly, back down to nothing. His lifeforce went with it, and he was gone. He fell limp on the ground, dead for good this time. It seemed that blast was a last resort defense mechanism. But it didn't work like it should have.

"Janjir!"

Viraj emerged from the smoke and landed on Ouranos's back. Blue, glowing chains erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around Ouranos's wrists, keeping his arms pinned so he couldn't use his spear.

The Hindu demigod looked about as bad as Ouranos did, with burns all over his body, wild gray hair gone completely. He now looked unrecognizable, and if he hadn't commanded that chain spell, I'd have thought he was a demon from the Underworld, or something, popping up out of the ground.

As Ouranos shook and writhed, Viraj kept his grip, and closed his eyes. What he said next didn't come off as a spell, at least, not in tone. This was softer, and it almost sounded like a plea.

"Mujhe le lo, Shiva."

His body surrounded itself with blue light, and then it exploded.

The explosion was very condensed, on purpose, so again, the planet wouldn't be destroyed. Every bit of that combustion was targeted towards Ouranos. The blue light changed to black smoke, and orange fire, that billowed into the sky. It looked like the aftermath of a nuclear bomb, narrowed down to a few feet instead of several miles.

The force of the blow sent me flying on my back. Luckily, it hadn't blinded or disoriented me, so I was able to kip up from a somersault, and back on my feet. The fire from the explosion left quickly, but the smoke was still clinging to something.

Then, a hand popped out from it.

Ouranos waved his arm a single time to get rid of the smoke, and there he stood, still burned...and one arm missing.

Now he looked identical to Atlas. When he got burned with the Red Beam Cannon, and when my Master Bolt shot blew his arm off, all the way up to his shoulder, as if a giant monster bit half his body off. Ouranos was in far better shape. His aura hadn't been damaged in the slightest, and he was still breathing well. In short, he looked much worse than he felt.

After I realized what the blast had done to him, I realized what happened. Viraj's aura and lifeforce had faded from existence, and he'd moved on.

He sacrificed himself with that explosion, to hurt Ouranos.

"Take me, Shiva."

I turned towards the voice and saw Sigurd standing to my left, blood trailing down his jaw. "What?"

"Those were his last words. Take me, Shiva."

Ouranos started laughing. The burns quickly went away as if nothing ever happened, being replaced with normal skin in real time. Hell, even his arm started growing back, atom by atom, muscle by muscle, bone by bone. It was all there in a matter of seconds. With a flick of his finger, his toga materialized, as the cherry on top. Ouranos had literally been rendered good as new.

James and Viraj's deaths meant nothing.

Every last pantheon leader, and warrior that Sigurd had gathered...died. Not one attack hurt Ouranos, or did anything meaningful.

Realizing that, was the worst feeling in the world. All of those lives lost.

Because of me.

I want to say that I won't let it be in vain, but I can't. I'd be lying to myself. What better chance to I have? Do any of us have?

"I'll be joining him soon."

My eyes widened. What did Sigurd just say?

"Don't talk like that, man. I'm not letting another person die! You hear me?!"

Sigurd chuckled lazily, and put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Matt. I'm not afraid."

He sucked in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and looked to the sky.

"I'm ready to go to Valhalla."

I couldn't even speak or protest, it just came out as hesitated babbles. Valhalla? Why was he talking about dying? Sigurd was the son of Odin! Him dying...didn't seem right. It didn't process in my brain that it could really happen. Sigurd was strong, and noble, and wise. He's a figure that gives off the presence of invincibility. Even if he's not stronger than his challenge, he's smarter. He can escape or win by sheer wit.

But hearing the conviction of his tone in what he said, and feeling his emotions, I knew he meant it. He was ready to die, but not before dealing a good blow to Ouranos. It was like Viraj's death had almost inspired him.

I tried to reason with him, "Sigurd, nobody else is dying. You got that? We're gonna come up with a plan, free my friends, and take this son of a bitch down! You have to believe that!"

"I believe it." He said, "I believe you can do it. You can do anything, Matt."

My mouth parted in shock, "But..."

"Well, that was interesting." Ouranos said with a sigh, his voice making us look at him, "But unfortunately for you, I'm still standing, and your numbers have dropped drastically." He grinned devilishly at Sigurd, "I'd be saying my prayers to Odin if I were you, because you're next."

"I don't need to pray." Sigurd's demeanor had changed from before. Before, he looked furious, like a wild animal. Only thinking with his fury, not his mind. Now, he looked content and accepting. As if to say whatever happens, happens. "I already know that I'm accepted in the Great Halls. And I know that when you die, you'll either burn in hell for a millennia, or you won't exist at all."

"On the contrary, boy, I'm the only one standing here that will live forever. In a world built purely on what I please." He used the Heavenly Diamond spear to point at Sigurd, "You'll never reach Valhalla. I'll see to that."

Sigurd just smirked, and didn't retort. I felt something brush against my mind, and without moving his lips, he spoke to me.

Matt, listen carefully. I have a plan. We can't worry about your friends right now. If we try to go after them, he'll just kill us. We need to attack together.

I was relieved to hear that, and glad that we could finally come up with a solid plan of attack.

Okay, what do we need to do?

You go at him with all you've got. Distract him. Then I'll come in with a surprise attack of telekinesis and disarm the spear from his hands completely. That will give you the opportunity to take it and permanently damage him. Because let's be honest here, that's the only chance we have of beating him, is with his own weapon. The knife Harper brought probably won't be enough.

Okay, sounds good. On my mark, then?

I'll follow your lead.

He broke the mental link. Ouranos was still standing there, waiting on us to do something.

He lifted an eyebrow, "Well? What are you going to try next?

"This!"

Faster than light, I collected energy from myself, from the planet, from Ouranos, and every surrounding star in the solar system to a rapid Red Beam Cannon. It formed in half a second and I fired it.

Ouranos simply coated his hand in his own aura and batted it away, redirecting it off course. I immediately cut off all energy to it, making it fade in midair. I held Viribus tight and went after Ouranos, going in for an attack.

He blocked my first with the spear, then dodged casually, avoiding all strike attempts with simple moves of his shoulders, smiling the whole time.

I cranked it up a bit. In a burst of energy, I activated my red aura and the energy of the Master Bolt to take him by surprise and land a clean blow on the chin. Then Sigurd came in with his cutlass, aimed at Ouranos's side.

The attack had done little to even distract him. Ouranos brough his free hand up to smack Sigurd in the face and knock him to the ground. I almost scrunched my face up with confusion at what Sigurd did. That was a pretty open and slow attack for him. I know Sigurd, and I know that he can attack way faster than that.

But then it hit me, what he was really doing. He wanted Ouranos to think he'd already dealt with him, and that he'd be lying unconscious on the side lines, when really...he'd be waiting to pounce with his telekinetic attack.

It was genius.

So I played along and kept engaging Ouranos in weapons combat. Which, if I had to describe such a thing in words, the best way to do it would be fighting Malachi on steroids. Malachi moves like his father, and has the same movement mannerisms. Graceful with the strides and swings, but ferocious at the last second, like crashing waves of an ocean. You almost expect what you're getting from the attack, and then its power hits you, and you're knocked off your feet.

The fighting style fits Malachi more, obviously. The guy's laid back, and nicer than most people you'll ever meet. Ouranos is cruel and psychotic, so him fighting this way, all smooth and clean, is kind of surprising. You'd expect him to fight more like the Sons of Thor, Bjorn and Boris. Swinging haymakers with all their power, coming straight forward and in your face. But nope, Ouranos is very hard to read, and each attack is brand new, coming from an arsenal of thousands.

Well, he's not attacking much right now. He's defending, and he's doing it without much trouble, like he's seen all of my moves before, countless times. Which is probably true, considering how old he is.

At one point, after swinging and missing three hundred times, Ouranos caught Viribus with the spear and pinned it to the ground, and nearly me with it, because I kept holding onto the club.

I looked up at him, body bent over, hands still on Viribus. His breathing hadn't even changed, not in the slightest.

"Gotta say, I'm disappointed." He said, "Zeus didn't train you well."

Hearing that, and knowing what he did to Zeus, pissed me off.

Using my aura and muscle memory from training, I opened a rift to a dormant dimension and summoned cosmic aura to my fist, covering it like a glove.

I closed the rift and took my aura coated hand off of Viribus, delivering a quick jab to Ouranos's nose.

That did it. Ouranos stumbled backwards and recoiled his upper body from the punch, his spear coming off Viribus and freeing it. I couldn't help but smirk, because that was a good hit, and I know Ouranos felt it.

"I'd say he trained me pretty good. I've got a few new tricks now."

His eyes narrowed dangerously. He was pissed. "You little-"

He didn't get to finish that sentence. An invisible force came over him and pushed against his arm, pointing the spear at his shoulder as if he were about to stab himself. Sigurd was enacting his attack.

The son of Odin stood hunched, with his hands outstretched, and green light misting from his fingertips. I could feel the lock he had on Ouranos, it was strong, like a steel trap.

I sheathed Viribus and jumped on the blunt end of the spear, intending to push it so it would have a better chance of cutting Ouranos. But as soon as my fingers touched it, I was pushed off, like a gust of wind smacked me in the chest.

I landed on my rear end. The telekinetic pressure was so strong between the two that it wouldn't allow any outside force to interfere. I've never seen anything like it before.

It surprised me, how epic the struggle was. I expected Ouranos to immediately deflect whatever Sigurd tried. But Sigurd must've been putting more than one hundred percent in it, because Ouranos actually looked a little afraid at what could happen.

Finally, in the deciding moment of effort, Sigurd strained his entire body and roared with effort. The spear went forward just enough to cut into Ouranos's bare shoulder, maybe an inch into the skin, but still, it was something permanent.

Ouranos grunted in pain, and his aura flared, putting his will over Sigurd's momentary leverage. He jerked his arm and swatted the spear away from him, sending it spinning in the air.

What remained was a small cut in Ouranos's shoulder, glistening golden blood. Sigurd let go of his mental grip, and the telekinetic struggle fell. He was smiling.

"Now I can die happily." He said, "I made the mighty Ouranos bleed."

He hadn't even hurt him, but his words made Ouranos furious. For the first time in the battle, Ouranos's cool, smug demeanor melted away. Now, something had gotten to him.

He thrust his hand out before the lightning formed. When he did, a thin, blue light lit up the area between him and Sigurd, the end of it hit my friend right in the chest, and the lightning came out on the other side.

It pierced his chest, through the lungs.

The lightning flashed and disappeared. Thunder boomed. It left Sigurd falling on his knees, with a hole in his chest.

My eyes widened, "SIGURD!"

Sigurd coughed up blood. His aura, and lifeforce, were dropping drastically.

I felt rage course through every fiber of my being. I charged Ouranos with my fists clenched, ready to rip his head off. But once I reached him, he didn't even look my direction. He hit me with the back of his hand in the face, changing my course to the opposing direction.

My shoulders hit the ground hard, then the rest of my body in a slide. I stopped, propped up on my arm. When I looked up next, Ouranos was grabbing Sigurd by both sides of his head, and turning it like the cork on a wine bottle.

SNAP!

That was the noise his neck made. It broke instantly, and it was backwards like the head of an owl. Ouranos let go, and Sigurd's body plopped on the dirt, face first.

His aura fell, fell, and fell...until it died, him along with it.

(000)

Poor Sigurd. We'll miss you, Son of Odin.

Sorry guys, I had to do it. There's not a war without casualties. At least I let him go with a bang.

Until Next Time.