Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
Consul of the Underworld: End of Disc 1
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Battle of Manhattan - Day Three
Beta: ShadowofAxios
Looking at the screens of the workstation he was seated in front of, Michael watched the feeds from the Spider Drones that he and Helena had sent ahead to spy on the Titan Army's position at the United Nations Headquarters. A camp that was centered around a ritual being carried out by a timeless, regal woman whose eyes sparkled with malice and with dark hair that was piled into a cone encircled with diamonds and emeralds. Dressed in an elegant sleeveless dress of woven gold and with a pendant like a miniature maze around her neck that had a cord which was set with rubies that resembled crystallized blood drops, she moved her hands through a half-conjured loom as she literally weaved strands of Mist that trailed away in thick banks from the Titan Camp to cover the entirety of New York City. A ritual that was, much to their frustration, hindering the deployment of the move that would allow the roll out of the decisive phase of the Olympian defenders' hammer and anvil plan.
"Looks like the info from Daedalus and Talos were right." Helena said from her neighboring workstation in their mobile command station parked outside the Empire State. "The sensors are confirming that that's the ritual stopping them from opening a passage from the Labyrinth into the city."
Michael glanced at one of his screens that was displaying the data from the drones' sensor feeds and saw the conclusion reached by the AI he had monitoring the information. A conclusion that indeed met up with what his wife said.
"So the target is legit?" Pyrrha asked as she and the rest of their team looked over his and Helena's shoulders to stare at the screens of their workstations.
"Yup. Looks like it." Michael confirmed with a nod.
"Hey, Alkaid, do you know who's that woman doing the ritual?" Caelus asked, looking warily at the aforementioned woman on the screen. "And is she a threat?"
"That's the immortal Sorceress, Pasiphaë, daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid Perse. She's the wife of King Minos and by virtue of that marriage, Queen of Crete, and mother of the goddess Ariadne and the Minotaur." Alkaid said distractedly as she typed away at the tablet she was using to communicate with the team made up of Campers who were too injured to fight but were still mostly ambulatory that were up in the Empire State's 102nd floor observatory. A team that was using spell cards charged with bombardment spells that she had prepared for them to temporarily replace her as the defenders' magical artillery. "And yes, she's a threat, but leave her to me. She's an escapee from the Underworld and as a daughter of Hades, it's my duty to deal with her."
"Noted." Peggy said with a thoughtful hum as she eyed the den of serpentine monsters that were coiled around the Cretan queen's ritual site. "Then I suppose we will deal with the Drakons that are serving as her guards instead."
"That would be appreciated." Alkaid said as she put away the tablet. "Get ready to go, guys. We're launching our attack the moment that the artillery team softens the target for us."
"Got it, 'Kaidy." Pyrrha said with a nod as she drew her labrys from the hammerspace of that enchanted mithril bracelet decorated with a black diamond of hers.
"Looks like the guys up on the 102nd are pulling the trigger." Caelus said with a chuckle as he leaned lazily against his trident and looked towards the screens and their feeds from the United Nations Headquarters. "They sure act fast."
"As they should," Alkaid said with a sense of palpable pride for the children who as Camp Half-blood's Assistant Activities Director she had helped train whilst they all watched intense beams of emerald energy slam down on the Drakons and the ritual site that they defended.
As the beams struck and threw up massive clouds, the daughter of Hades called on her umbrakinesis and shaped the shadows surrounding them into a portal of swirling darkness. "Alright, let's go."
"Right!" Pyrrha said with an enthusiastic, almost bloodthirsty, grin as she stepped through the shadow portal, followed by an equally eager Caelus and a stoic Peggy.
"As usual, we'll support you from the rear." Helena said just as Alkaid was about to step through the portal.
"We're counting on it." Alkaid told her with a nod as she finally Shadow Traveled away to join the rest of their team, her portal closing behind her.
"Once more into the breach?" Michael asked his wife with a smirk as he turned his attention back to his workstation and the drones it allowed him to command.
"Yup! To war!" Helena said with an enthusiastic cheer.
The first thing that Caelus saw as he stepped out of Alkaid's shadow portal was a scene straight out of a warzone. Considering they were fighting in the Second Titanomachy, perhaps that was to be expected but seeing the devastation that the bombardment spell that the Campers had dropped on the Titan Army forces that had gathered at the United Nations Headquarters was beyond impressive. The entire area was all torn up and there were piles of gold dust scattered everywhere from the monsters that had met their fate from the beams that had rained down on them from the Empire State.
Unfortunately, the barrage hadn't taken down all of them and with such a dramatic opening move, the enemy were expecting them. So as they exited the portal, his team found themselves surrounded by six Drakons. Each of the serpentine monsters were quite menacing, all sinuous muscle, razor sharp talons, maws filled with deadly looking fangs and flames licking their lips. However, they were all outshone by their leader, a monster that the Roman Legacy recognized as a Lydian Drakon. A true beast that was a legless, serpentine monster covered in blood red scales that had a body as thick as a school bus, was two hundred feet long, and had eyes like searchlights.
Oh! I want to take that thing on! Caelus thought with an eager lick of his lips.
Sadly, before he could, Alkaid stepped out of her portal and seeing the situation just had to take the fun out of things. Without giving the rest of them a chance to even pick an opponent, she simply gathered her magic and took the offensive.
"Claíomh Solais." She incanted almost dismissively, conjuring five of her signature green beams that before anyone could react, she swept them over the Drakons that had surrounded them and blasted them into oblivion.
Well, most of them. The Lydian Drakon was sent flying back by the beams where it proceeded to crash into the United Nations Secretariat Building, shattering its many windows and showering the area in glass shards. However, even as all five beams of Alkaid's spells shifted to focus on it after dealing with the other Drakons, it failed to send the monster back to Tartarus.
"Useless Drakons!" The Sorceress that Alkaid had identified as Pasiphaë cried out in frustration. "All you needed to do was defend me and the ritual, yet you cannot even do that!? Do I have to do everything myself!?"
As she finished her rant, she plucked on one of the threads of Mist she was weaving as part of her ritual, causing it to reshape itself into a herd of massive bulls with white fur and gleaming white horns.
"Wait! Did she just summon a herd of Cretan Bulls!? Can she do that?" Caelus gasped, even as next to him Peggy shifted her trick shield, Athena's Wrath, into its Bola Launcher mode and fired bolas at the lead bulls, tripping them and a number of the charging herd immediately behind them along with them.
"She has indeed cloned it and sent them to attack us." Alkaid confirmed whilst with an incantation of Plasma Lancer, she sent a volley of spears made out of green lightning at the charging bulls.
"Out of curiosity, how can she do that?" Peggy asked as she switched Athena's Wrath to its Rotary Gun mode and proceeded to lay down a rain of Celestial Bronze bullets at the Mist conjured monsters. An effort to thin the herd even further that the Bertinellis' drones assisted with as they swarmed out of the hiding places where they had been spying on things and engaged the monstrous bovines.
"Isn't Mystiokinesis grand?" Alkaid said with a shrug.
"It's bullshit, that's what it is." Peggy said with a sigh. A reply that had Caelus smiling. Proud filled him as seeing proof that he had finally corrupted his lover's prim and proper speech patterns! "And Caelus, why are you just standing there?"
"Just waiting for the boss to tell me what she wants me to kill is all~!" The Roman Legacy said as he looked towards Alkaid meaningfully.
"Give me a minute." The daughter of Hades said, raising a hand towards him in a signal to wait, as she turned towards her wife. "Pyrrha, that Lydian Drakon is the one that Rachel Dare said could only be killed by a child of Ares. I've confirmed it with my diagnostic spells."
"Thought as much." Pyrrha said with a nod. "Leave it to me."
"It's all yours." Alkaid said with a nod as she finally cut off the beams that she had been using to pin the serpentine monster against the United Nations Secretariat Building, causing the Drakon to fall forward like a tree that had been cut down.
"You're mine, you overgrown snake!" The daughter of Ares roared as a war cry as she charged the disorientated snake as it slowly recovered from the barrage that Alkaid's spell had subjected it to.
As Pyrrha moved to deal with the Lydian Drakon, Alkaid turned towards the Roman Legacy. "Now then, Caelus, mind clearing a path to Pasiphaë for me?"
"It would be my pleasure, Boss." Caelus said with a smirk as he blitzed towards the herd of cloned Cretan Bulls, a herd that Pasiphaë kept reinforcing with newly conjured replacements for the ones that Peggy and the Bertinellis' drones were taking out.
Transformed into a blur like blue lightning thanks to his superhuman speed, Caelus made his way deep into the ranks of the Cretan Bulls and leapt onto the back of one of the bovines. The beast immediately tried to buck him off but he quickly drew his holdout Imperial Gold dagger and stabbed it into the monster's back, creating a handhold that allowed him to stay on even if he had to imitate a bull rider in a rodeo. He didn't just stay on though but he also proceeded to guide his unwilling mount towards the other members of the herd where he proceeded to use the height provided to him by his mount to stab at the other monsters with his trident, reducing them one after another into gold dust.
His actions caused Peggy to shoot him an exasperated but impressed look.
Hey! Alkaid asked me to clear a path for her to Pasiphaë but she didn't tell him how, did she? So why not have some fun doing it? It's only fair after she blue-balled me by killing the other Drakons before I got a chance to fight them. Caelus thought with a broad grin on his face as he continued riding his bucking bull and slaughtered his way through the ranks of its fellows. A grin that was in large part the result of the look that Peggy was shooting him as she eyed his antics. A look that he knew meant he would be getting a really fun night between the sheets the next time he and Peggy had some private time together.
That alone makes it all worth it!
"You're mine, you overgrown snake!" Pyrrha shouted eagerly as she charged towards the Lydian Drakon that 'Kaidy's Claíomh Solais had abused but was still breathing thanks to its fate of being able to only be able to be killed by a child of Ares.
Unfortunately for the monstrous worm, that was exactly who Pyrrha was! And she was more than happy to help it fulfill its fate!
She wasn't stupid about it though and even as she closed the distance with the monster, she began buffing herself above and beyond the standard wards and enhancement spells that Alkaid cast on her whenever they entered combat. "επικαλούνται: Αιμοληψία! (Invoke: Bloodlust)!"
As her spell conjured a blood red aura around herself and granted her superhuman speed and strength, Pyrrha used those enhancements to leap out of the way of the stream of acidic venom that the recovering Lydian Drakon spat at her. Acid that as it impacted the shattered ground, melted a deep hole into the concrete ground.
Damn! If that hit me, I don't think even 'Kaidy's wards would be enough to keep me safe! Pyrrha thought as she counterattacked. "Come forth, Burning Swarm! Apes Igniferae (Crimson Bees)!"
With a slash of her labrys, a swarm of wasp-like projectiles shot forth towards the Drakon. The daughter of war had hoped to catch the monster before it closed its mouth and her projectiles could hit the soft flesh inside its maw but sadly the creature was too quick and they just exploded against its tough, scaly hide.
At least the explosions seemed to annoy the overgrown snake if the angry roar it let out in response was any indication. That and the furious glare that it shot at her. A glare that, according to what she knew about the Lydian Drakon, had a paralyzing effect that could freeze opponents in place out of sheer terror.
It didn't work on Pyrrha though. Not when she was protected by the power of her Αιμοληψία and her wife's wards. So the worst she felt was the tingling feel of the Drakon's fear-inducing magic interacting with the various magics protecting her, which caused her skin to tingle as they fought off its effects.
Realizing the failure of its attempt to hold her in place, the monster let loose a frustrated growl and switched tactics. Snapping its jaws open, it spat another stream of acid at Pyrrha.
"You already tried that, you unimaginative snake!" Pyrrha snapped back as she leapt away from the deadly spray of acid. However, she had underestimated her enemy. Forgetting the full extent of her enemy's arsenal, she was caught unawares as the Drakon lashed out at her with its tail. A massive limb that was as thick as a compact car, at least, and proceeded to slam into her.
"Shit!" Helena cursed as she saw Pyrrha get sent flying after being whipped by the Lydian Drakon's tail through the feed of her drones on the battlefield that was being displayed on one of the screens of her workstation. "That's gotta hurt."
"Ouch. Yeah, it's got to." Michael agreed from his neighboring workstation. "But Pyrrha can take it. Especially when she's got her Bloodlust spell enhancing her."
"Definitely." Helena agreed. "Look, she's already getting up."
Just like the Legacy of Venus said, Pyrrha landed from the blow with aplomb. Rolling with it, she was back into a standing position in seconds after she hit the ground. And ignoring the pain of the injuries she must've sustained from the vicious tail lashing she'd just received, Pyrrha charged back towards the monster once again.
A much more successful charge this time. The Drakon spat its acid time and time again and lashed out at her with its tail repeatedly as well, however, now more aware of the weapons that the serpentine monster had at its disposal, Pyrrha was able to evade every one of its attempts to force her back. She was thus able to finally close the distance.
Something that was helped along immensely by the Lydian Drakon lunging towards her in an attempt to snap her up in its massive jaws. However, as it attempted to do so, Pyrrha just leapt over it and landed atop the serpentine monster's head. Shifting her weapon to its spear mode as she did, she proceeded to stab it deep into the Drakon's body before proceeding to run down its staggering length, dragging the spear behind her as she did. A move that caused the Celestial Bronze weapon to dig a deep trench in the monster's body as she did, causing the beast's blood to shoot up into the sky and rain down as it did. All the while, Pyrrha laughed merrily.
"Well, Pyrrha is having fun." Helena observed with a bemused shake of her head as she turned away from the daughter of Ares as she continued carving up the Lydian Drakon and towards the screens showing the fight against Pasiphaë.
"Yeah. She is." Michael agreed with a chuckle. "Alkaid isn't though. If anything she looks pissed."
Alkaid is furious. Peggy thought to herself as she saw her boss shoot thousands of magical bullets of at least a couple different types at the dead Cretan queen that was carrying out the ritual that their team was here to shut down.
"You should be in the Underworld, Pasiphaë!" Peggy's boss shouted angrily at the escaped spirit of the dead. "Your very presence here is an affront to me as a daughter of Hades!"
"Why if it isn't the Little Lady? All grown up now, aren't you? Closer to joining us among the dead?" Pasiphaë taunted back as she plucked at one of the strings of Mist she was manipulating as part of the ritual she was performing and shaping a large bank of it into a series of barriers that shielded her from Alkaid's barrage.
"επικαλούνται: σημάνει διακόπτη (Invoke: Spell Breaker)." Alkaid incanted with a twisted smile on her face, one that was sharp and wicked, as her spell dispeled the spirit's barriers. "I'd make a bestiality comment but I'm far above that and you. After all, you are used to being on your knees."
"'On my knees'!?" Pasiphaë shouted indignantly as she plucked on the strings of Mist of her ritual once more, conjuring more clones of the Cretan Bull she was using to fend them off, forcing Peggy and Caelus to continue dealing with them, whilst she simultaneously shot a volley of lightning bolts at Alkaid. "I am a queen! I bend my knee to no one!"
"A queen by marriage. You're nothing without your husband." Alkaid sneered as she created a spherical barrier of translucent green energy to shield her from the bolts that the dead queen had shot at her. "After all, what are you known for that is not linked to Minos and his actions?"
Are they really trading insults as they fight? Really!? Peggy thought with exasperation as she used a burst from Athena's Wrath's Rotary Gun to blast a cloned Cretan Bull back into the Mist from which it had been created. Don't they know how serious this fight is!?
"At least I was a queen! What rank do you hold, little girl!?" Pasiphaë retorted with a sneer as plucking on even more of the Mist strings of her ritual, she conjured a volley of fireballs that shot towards Alkaid.
"Olympian Diplomat." Alkaid said matter of factly as she did not even bother to create a new barrier, instead trusting her existing shield to keep her safe. A trust that was justified as Pasiphaë's fireballs harmlessly splashed against the dome of energy.
"Ha! Is that supposed to impress me? You're nothing more than a gopher for the worthless gods!" Pasiphaë spat back. She was preparing to pluck at her Mist strands once again, but before she could, Alkaid preempted her.
"Be gone, Pasiphaë! επικαλούνται: την απόλυση του Άδη (Invoke: Hades' Dismissal)!" Alkaid cast decisively, releasing a wave of power that swept across the area around her.
Everything that the spell's effects touched was dispelled. This included the Mistform Cretan Bulls that Peggy and Caelus had been fighting. For the daughter of Athena this just meant that there wouldn't be anymore monsters attacking her but for her lover, this meant his mount literally disappeared from under him and he suddenly found himself falling. However, in a demonstration of his superhuman reflexes, he quickly recovered and landed on his feet despite the surprise. A state of affairs that left Peggy impressed once again with Caelus' abilities.
He really is quite a catch isn't he? Peggy thought with a smirk. And I can't wait to stake my claim by milking him dry when I next get a private moment with him.
With her mind filled with thoughts of what she wanted to do to her lover the next time they made love, she was almost too distracted to observe the conclusion of Alkaid's one-sided fight against Pasiphaë. Almost. She was a daughter of Athena after all and being unable to fully grasp the situation on a battlefield was anathema to the children of the goddess of war. Thus despite her distraction, she did indeed catch the tail end of the fight. Anti-climatic thought it was.
"That's right, you little hedge witch! Flee!" Alkaid jeered as seeing the effect of her spell was about to reach her, the dead Cretan queen let out a very undignified squeak of fear and teleported away, abandoning her ritual.
"That's right, you little hedge witch! Flee!" Alkaid cackled as she saw the Whore of the Bull make her unbecoming getaway with her bovine tail between her legs as she let out a terrified squeak and fled from the spell that would've sent her back to the Underworld where she belonged. To see someone as dignified as Pasiphaë be embarrassed so badly was truly such a shame. Not.
As an escapee from the Underworld, the other Sorceress would need to be hunted down later, but Alkiad had more pressing concerns. Like watching how with the ritual that she had been maintaining now dispelled without her to keep it going, a massive opening of Daedalus' Labyrinth opened up right in front of her in United Nations Plaza. A sight that couldn't help but make Alkaid grin.
An opening from which Daedalus and Talos both emerged, the latter in his massive colossus body, leading a large army of automations armed as hoplites, brandishing spears and shields. The movements of which were smoother and cleaner than any automaton had any right being, no doubt as a result of Daedalus' work. Talos' contribution likely took the form of the automated crossbows mounted on the shoulders of many of the automatons that made up the back rows of each of the many phalanxes that were marching out of the Labyrinth. Phalanxes whose front rows were more robust and wielded particularly large shields, presumably to better withstand the tides of monsters that would crash into them once they engaged them.
She was about to greet the two legendary tinkerers when Alkaid sensed the ground under United Nations Headquarters shifting. A sign that told her that there was another army about to join Olympus' defense. A very familiar new army whose incoming arrival had Alkaid perking up in anticipation and caused a smile to spread across her face even as she downed a bottle of Nectar to recover the energy she'd lost from casting the draining επικαλούνται: την απόλυση του Άδη.
A smile that only grew as the ground quivered before splitting open in a great fissure. A crack in the earth from which the Underworld host began to march out. At its head, in his great obsidian war chariot that was being pulled by two large shadow horses with gleaming red eyes and adorned in his Stygian Iron armor, the Helm of Hades on his crown, his bident in one hand and the Sword of Hades in the other, her father was pulling off a look that wouldn't have been out of place as the cover art of a metal band album.
So. Cool. Alkaid couldn't help but think as she admired the scene and idly tossed the bottle of Nectar she'd just finished into the shadow realm linked to her Incantare: Umbra Spatium (Invoke: Shadow Space) spell from which she had drawn it from in the first place. The sight was like something out of a video game or movie! Ah, her Father really was the coolest of the Big Three.
The addition of Mother and Aunt Demeter in the chariot might have ruined the look a little but it was still nice to have them there! Well, Mother at least. Alkaid's relationship with her maternal divine grandmother was just as acrimonious as her father's was with the goddess of agriculture and fertility.
They weren't the only ones there either. Her siblings were there too. Leading a large battalion of ghosts and other spirits that soared into the skies to give their armies air cover was Melinoe and marching forward to take the vanguard of the Underworld host was a force of the Blessed Dead of Elysium with Makaria leading them from atop one of her war goat mounts. Some of the most famous Villains and Heroes, both ancient and modern, numbered among both her divine sisters' forces. A fact that would surely strike fear into the hearts of the Titan Army that would soon face them. And flying above them, last but in her mind far from the least, was Nico and his undead gryphon with Bianca riding pillion.
Yeah, Uncle Zeus can eat his heart out. My family is the best! Ever! Alkaid thought as she beamed with utter pride at the might of the House of Hades on full display.
"I'd call this dramatic timing, yet it's not unappreciated, Father, Mother." Alkaid couldn't help but tease as she jogged over to them as their chariot pulled to a stop next to the Underworld entrance whilst the rest of their forces marched ahead.
"Oh?" Father hummed, a teasing lilt in his tone. "I'm just adding my army to Daedalus and Talos' automation forces. You need a large hammer for your Campers' strategy, do you not?"
"That we do." Pyrrha said as she wandered over, having finished off the Lydian Drakon. A fact proven by the massive pile of golden dust that must've been its remains in front of the United Nations Secretariat Building. "Thanks for coming, Lord Hades. We expected Daedalus and Talos but your army is gonna make our strategy even more effective."
"Indeed it will." Daedalus said as he too wandered over with Peggy and Caelus and gestured at Talos who was at the head of their army, leading it as it advanced towards the Empire State to catch the Titan Army in the rear alongside the forces of the Underworld armies. "With our two armies, Lord Hades, surely we will rout the Titan Army shortly."
"Yes, we will." Father nodded with a bloodthirsty smile. "I look forward to seeing the look on the Titans' face when they see their army being torn to pieces."
"Hades," Mother said with a roll of her eyes as she tugged on his sleeve.
Blinking in confusion, he turned to his wife. "Yes, dear?"
"I think Kore is trying to remind you that we need to deal with him." Demeter said as she pointed towards the Hudson river where a massive mass of thunder clouds advanced towards Manhattan. A mass that was hiding the true form of the Father of All Monsters, Typhon, and was being constantly circled by the chariots of the majority of the Twelve Olympians that were ineffectually blasting away at it with various attacks as they did. They had been in sight of the defenders of the Empire State since this morning and had been rapidly approaching the city. A fact that had greatly worried them, but they had trust that the gods had a plan to deal with him. A trust that seemed justified. "Did you forget about your role in the plan to deal with the Storm Giant?"
"I did not." Father said, his right eyebrow twitching in the way that it did whenever he was lying. "Fine~! I'll go help finish him off now."
With that declaration full of childish pique, Father teleported away.
"Mother, what is Father going to do?"
Mother just smiled mysteriously and gestured at the approaching Typhon in the distance, said. "Just watch, Alkaid."
Turning in the direction she was indicating, Alkaid saw as suddenly the Hudson river practically exploded as massive chains of Celestial Bronze, each link of which were as big as a school bus, shot out of it and proceeded to wrap around the Father of Monsters. Chains that were secured around Typhon by Cyclopes led by Lord Poseidon himself!
The Storm Giant, of course, began struggling against the chains. However, its efforts proved fruitless. He was thus unable to do anything as Father, as Alkaid sensed via her geokinesis, opened up a massive fissure under the Hudson river that led straight to Tartarus. A fissure that had been opened up behind the Father of Monsters. A position that the circling gods happily exploited as they joined their strength into a single volley of their most powerful attacks. Hit by this monumentally powerful barrage, Typhon was sent tottering backwards into the fissure that Father had opened and began his long fall all the way down to where he belonged.
"NOOooooo~!" The Storm Giant roared in denial as he fell back into the Pit that had fathered him, releasing swarms of storm spirits that fled to cause misery elsewhere seemingly in a last act of defiance even as he met his fate.
"And with that the threat of Typhon is dealt with." Daedalus noted with a grin. "We have removed the biggest threat to our victory."
"I would not, as the mortals say, count your chickens before they hatch." Mother said with a shake of her head. "We still have Grandfather to contend with. To that end… Alkaid!"
"Yes, Mother?" Alkaid asked, looking to the goddess of springtime expectantly.
It was surprisingly not her mother that spoke but Demeter who did so instead. "Alkaid, now that Typhon has been dealt with and his army is about to be routed by the automatons and Hades' forces, Kronos is attempting to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat."
Mother nodded and continued. "He is ordering his armies to take up defensive positions and hold the line as long as possible. At the same time, he has gathered together a small elite force and using the time that his army will buy him with their lives, it appears that he intends to lead that force to break through the defenders' lines around the Empire State and make his way up to Olympus."
"You want me and my team to head back to the Empire State to stop him?" Alkaid asked, as she grasped the picture from what the goddesses were telling her presumably based on their omniscience.
"You and Pyrrha, yes. The rest of your team not so much." Mother clarified. "You can leave your teammates here to support the automaton and Underworld armies. Unlike the defenders at the Empire State, we have precious few Half-bloods in our ranks and if any of the Titans leading their armies or the traitorous gods in their service take the field, we will need their help to face them."
Alkaid nodded in understanding, even as Daedalus did the same. If the Titans or the gods in their service did choose to step up and directly attempt to face the automaton and Underworld armies, the only option considering the sparse number of demigods they had with them would be to have one of their gods to face them or allow them to turn their tide with their power. The latter was not an option, so they would have to resort to the former. Yet, such a move was unwise at the best of times. A battle between gods meant that the limits imposed by Ancient Laws on the powers that the combatants could use were very loose indeed and thus the collateral damage that could result was terrifying in its potential scope. However, if they were confronted by Half-bloods instead then things would be much more manageable thanks to the limits that the Ancient Laws would impose on such a fight.
"You're right, Mother." Alkaid said with a nod of agreement before turning towards Peggy and Caelus. "Peggy, Caelus, could you stay behind and support the automaton and Underworld armies like Mother suggests?"
"Leave it to us, Alkaid." Caelus said cockily.
"Yes, we will back up our allies." Peggy said with a nod.
"Thank you." Alkaid said with a smile and turned towards the nearest of the Bertinellis' drones. "Micheal, Helena, can you focus on supporting them? They will need it. Of course, if the fighting gets close to your command center-"
"We'll move it or defend ourselves depending on what the situation allows. Don't worry, Alkaid. We know how to hold our own." Michael replied for both of them through the drone's speakers. "Otherwise we'll support Peggy and Caelus like you ask."
"Yup." Helena said through the speaker next. "Count on us. Just go deal with the Crooked One already."
"And I will do my best to support them as well." Daedalus added.
"Thanks for that, Daedalus." Pyrrha said, shooting the automaton a grateful nod.
With her instructions to her team complete, Alkaid turned towards Mother and Demeter for permission. They promptly nodded, Demeter with a look of impatience - she was clearly annoyed by the delay - and Mother with an encouraging smile.
Returning the smile, Alkaid began gathering the shadows in the area into a Shadow Travel portal. A process that was slowed down due to the handshake protocols used by the wards to protect the entrance to Olympus from unwanted teleporting guests, with the intention to try and confront Kronos. But it only slowed things slightly and soon the portal was ready.
"Pyrrha, you ready?" Alkaid said, looking at her wife.
"Always." The daughter of war said as she walked over, tapping her labrys against her shoulder in expectation of the fight ahead.
Smiling at her wife, Alkaid and the redhead stepped into the portal she'd conjured side by side as they headed towards what they imagined would be the final battle of the Second Titanomachy.
Flying over the automaton and Underworld armies whilst riding pillion on Nico's undead gryphon, Bianca watched Typhon be bound up in Celestial Bronze chains by a small army of loyal Cyclopes led by Uncle Poseidon and his Cyclops son, Tyson, and be knocked into the rift to Tartarus that Father had opened up by the combined might of the bulk of the Olympian Council. A show of unity among the Olympian gods that filled the daughter of Hades with pride because it included her oft ostracized father. Perhaps it was something that the Olympian Twelve had only done because they needed Father's power to defeat the Father of Monsters, because they did, but regardless of the reason, that he was included at all made Bianca's heart almost burst with pride and hope that this was the beginning of a rapprochement between the House of Hades and Olympus.
"Wow!" Nico gasped from where he was sitting ahead of her on the back of his gryphon. "That's so cool!"
"I know right? Father is amazing! And how the Olympians are working with him is great too, isn't it?" Bianca asked excitedly.
"Huh?" Nico said, turning back to Bianca and blinking at her curiously. "Um, sure, I guess. I, uh, was actually referring to the fight below."
Bianca shot an exasperated look at her little brother for missing their father being epic but nevertheless looked in the direction of the scene that he was gesturing at with his sword. A scene that saw the Titan Army desperately trying to hold back the relentless advance of the automatons from the Labyrinth and the undead army of the Underworld. It was a futile effort though. Talos and the other colossuses among the automaton armies were trouncing the Hyperborean and other giants of the Titan Army that tried to oppose them. Packs of traitorous hellhounds brawled with their loyalist counterparts, slowly being overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the latter. Empousai and Scythian Dracanae formed up into phalanxes to face off against the similar formations made out of automatons and undead, which like the hellhounds vastly outnumbered their Titan counterparts. They were qualitatively better too thanks to the host of the Blessed Dead from Elysium that Big Sis Maka commanded and which served as the vanguard of the loyalist counterattack. So it was no surprise that they were being rolled up with little trouble. There was fighting in the sky too, with Stymphalian Birds and traitorous Harpies engaged in vicious aerial duels against loyalist Harpies and the ghostly hordes and undead flyers led by Big Sis Mel. All in all, everywhere Bianca looked in the battlefield that Manhattan had become, monsters were being sent to Tartarus where they belonged. Often via bloody deaths and with pained screams just like they deserved.
There was just one thing missing from all that though.
"Where's Big Sister and Pyrrha?" Bianca asked, looking behind them back towards the United Nations Headquarters and tried to see if maybe Big Sis Alkaid had decided to stay back with Stepmother and Lady Demeter and support their armies from the rear.
There was no sign of it though. There were none of the powerful and flashy bombardment spells that Big Sister was so fond of shooting from the direction of the United Nations. The only examples of that came from the top of the Empire State, but Bianca knew from the intelligence that Father told her about before they marched into New York that it was just Campers using some spell cards that Big Sister had charged for them ahead of time. The only artillery being shot from the U.N. were various projectiles shot at the Titan Army by batteries set up by the automaton and undead army artillery teams. Teams that were engaged in fierce artillery exchanges with the Telekhine led teams among the Titan Army ranks.
"No idea," Nico said with a shrug. "But I'm sure she's okay. Big Sister is strong. So is Pyrrha. They can take care of themselves and each other. Besides, if either of them died, we'd have felt it, wouldn't we?"
"Yeah," Bianca agreed. As children of Hades, she and her brother could sense when someone they were close to died. "There are a lot of things besides dying that might happen to Big Sister and Pyrrha though. But, yeah, they are strong. I'm sure they're fine."
Bianca wasn't sure who she was trying to convince. Nico or herself? Either way, as uneasy as she was feeling about her sister and sister-in-law's safety, what she said was true. And she was sure that they were safe. She just had to have faith in them.
"I might be able to explain where your sister has gone, Mistress." Her Faceless familiar - a winged humanoid with a blank white mask for a face, tendrils for legs and webbed wings peppered with glowing growths of purple bioluminescence - said as he phased in beside them, keeping pace with Nico's gryphon as he did. "It appears that the gods obtained via their omniscience information that upon seeing his army is facing defeat, Kronos has chosen to launch a desperate attack against the Empire State Building to force his way up onto Olympus before it can be crushed. Acting on this, Lady Alkaid and Lady Pyrrha have moved to support the defenders and thwart his attempt."
"Alone!?" Bianca gasped. "Why didn't Stepmother send someone with them?"
"I do not think she felt it was necessary. Not when they are simply supporting the existing defenders at the Empire State," Her Faceless said with a shrug.
"That's a stupid reason to send them to fight Kronos alone!" Bianca said angrily. "Nico! Turn us towards the Empire State! If Big Sister and Pyrrha don't have anyone to support them then we will."
"I'm totally with you there, Bianca." Nico said as he nudged the sides of his gryphon, causing the undead mount to wing towards the building that served as the link between the mortal world and Olympus, and gestured in front of them with his sword. "But I think we'll have to get through those guys first."
Looking in the direction Nico was indicating once again, Bianca frowned as she spotted what he was referring to. Ahead of them and flying in an intercept course towards them was a flock of traitorous Harpies that were led by a huge flying pig with a pair of pink flamingo wings. A monstrous hog that the daughter of Hades recognized as the Clazmonian Sow.
"Damn pig! Get out of our way!" Bianca shouted angrily as she eyed the incoming monsters with distaste. "Faceless, deal with the Harpies. We'll deal with the Sow."
Not waiting for a reply, Bianca reached out with her magic and summoned her other familiars causing the purple Will-o'-the-wisp and the adolescent black Cat Sith with a white spot on its chest that were her other allies to heed her call and manifest around her. The latter appeared in her lap whilst the former orbited around her, both radiating eagerness to assist her in facing her enemies.
"Yes, Mistress." Faceless said with his own air of eagerness before he phased out of visibility and she sensed him flying forward to engage the Harpies. A fight he began by somehow sowing discord between the bird women using his psychic power, causing them to turn against each other in a chaotic aerial brawl.
That just left the Clazmonian Sow to Bianca, her other familiars, Nico and her brother's undead gryphon. A state of affairs that whilst leaving her outnumbered did not seem to faze the greater monster and outside of a disgusted snort at its escorts' actions, it continued to fly towards them unerringly.
"Nico, get us close." Bianca ordered her brother.
"Got it." Nico said with a nod before addressing his mount. "You heard Bianca, boy, get us close."
The gryphon let out a fierce cry before with a powerful beat of his wings, he, with its passengers, surged forward in a burst of speed. The Clazmonian Sow was not about to just let them get away with the plan that Bianca had come up with however and even as they blitzed towards her, the monster breathed out a jet of sickly green gas at them.
"Evade!" Nico ordered, prompting his gryphon to rapidly jink and dive out of the way of the Sow's likely deadly gas. They kept at it for a while with the monster tracking them with her breath all the way. Bianca tried to help out by having her Will-o'-the-wisp shoot fireballs at the oversized winged ham but annoyingly the monster just shrugged off its purple flames.
"Nico, change tactics!" Bianca urged as she realized they were getting nowhere.
"Right!" Nico said with another nod. "Hit her with a Soulbreaker Breath, boy!"
The gryphon let out a caw of acknowledgment before suddenly flying away from the Sow and its toxic breath. Using the distance and the time this granted it, the gryphon was able to gather its power before breathing out a black beam of energy right back at the Sow. The beam should have blasted through the jet of noxious gas that the monster shifted to attempt to intercept the beam but instead it somehow met the Soulbreaker Breath in a beam lock straight out of some anime!
Monsters are bullshit! Bianca thought with exasperation even as she gave fresh orders to her familiars.
"Will-o'-the-wisp, carry Cat Sith over to the back of that overgrown piece of bacon. Cat Sith, turn both of you invisible on the flight over and when you get there go crazy! Scratch her up good. Will-o'-the-wisp, help him out as much as you can as he does."
The two familiars nodded before Will-o'-the-wisp proceeded to abandon its orbit around Bianca's head. Diving down it picked up Cat Sith and proceeded to fly him over the distance to the Sow's back, the both of them disappearing from view as soon as they floated into the air just like she ordered them to.
"Think Cat Sith and Will-o'-the-wisp alone will be good enough to take the Sow down?" Nico asked with a frown.
"Honestly, no." Bianca said with a shake of her head. "But it will create an opening."
Nico nodded. "Got it. We'll have to exploit it to the best of our ability then."
"We will." Nico assured him just as the two familiars reached the Sow and flickered back into visibility as Cat Sith leapt onto the porcine monster's back where the fairy began tearing deep scratches into its skin. Wounds that Will-o'-the-wisp added to by sending tongues of flame into the gouges that Cat Sith tore into the Sow's back.
The attack, as expected, didn't defeat the winged pig but it did prove to be a great distraction. Enough that it at last broke beam lock between Nico's gryphon's Soulbreaker Breath and the Sow's noxious breath as the monster stopped releasing its breath weapon and instead began bucking through the air in a desperate attempt to throw Cat Sith off its back. Annoyingly its frantic attempts to free itself from the fairy that was stubbornly clinging onto its back and continuing to rake it with his claws whilst Will-o'-the-wisp bathed it in flames also served to allow it to evade the gryphon's breath weapon despite the undead mount's attempt to track the beam after it.
Because it can just do that! Like I said, monsters are bullshit!
"Nico, back Cat Sith and Will-o'-the-wisp up!"
"Working on it!" Nico said as the Resurrection Stone mounted in the pommel of his Stygian Iron sword began to glow with power as he used it to enhance his Necromancy. In response to his enhanced power, dozens upon dozens of ghosts straight from the Underworld manifested in answer to his unvoiced call.
"Go! Attack that overgrown pig!" Nico commanded the freshly summoned spirits of the dead.
Heeding his command, the ghosts surged forward to attack the Clazmonian Sow, adding their cold, life draining, spectral touch to the claws and flames that Bianca's familiars were using to ravage the monster. A state of affairs that it did not appreciate, not if the angry and pained squeals it made whilst it struggled against its attackers were any indication.
"Mistress, I am done with the Harpies." Faceless said as he teleported beside Bianca. "Do you need help with the Clazmonian Sow?"
"Yes!" Bianca said with a nod. "Help Will-o'-the-wisp and Cat Sith take him out!"
"As you command, Mistress." Faceless said in an amused tone. Why he was amused was beyond Bianca but she had a feeling she would find out soon enough. As if to prove the point, the shadowy spirit raised a hand towards the porcine monster and activated one of its psychic attacks. "Psycho Cut!"
His technique conjured dozens of purple blades made of raw psychic power around him that hung in ominously in the air for a moment before shooting forward towards the annoyingly hard to kill Clazmonian Sow. Blades that, unlike all the attacks that had previously dealt it, managed to do damage to it on a completely different scale. In fact, it actually cut the oversized pig into dozens of pieces that began to fall to the earth far below, massive chunks of raw pork that disintegrated into golden dust just feet before they hit the ground.
"Wow! Faceless, you're strong!" Nico praised as he dismissed his summoned ghosts and Will-o'-the-wisp caught Cat Sith as the Clazmonian Sow disintegrated from under it and flew him back to Bianca.
"Yes, he is." Bianca said with a proud grin. "Did you just realize that?"
"No, I knew that but I didn't know how strong he was till now, ya know?"
"Well, now you do." Faceless said, radiating pride at his strength.
"So don't forget it." Bianca said distractedly as she plucked Cat Sith out of Will-o'-the-wisp's grasp as they got within her reach and clutched him to her chest where she gave him a few scritches for his hard work and sent a burst of gratitude to Will-o'-the-wisp. "But now that we're done with that fat, flying pig, let's hurry to the Empire State and help Big Sister!"
"Right!" Nico said, shaking his head, presumably to cast aside his distractions, and adopted a determined look. "Boy, get us to the Empire State ASAP!"
His gryphon mount let out a roar of understanding and with a furious beat of its wings continued their journey towards the passage to Olympus where Big Sister was facing down against Kronos at top speed.
"Mistress, look there. At the Morgan Library & Museum." Faceless said suddenly a few moments later as they were blitzing through the air towards the Empire State from his spot keeping pace with them as they rode Nico's gryphon.
"Where?" Bianca asked, blinking in confusion. She wasn't exactly that familiar with New York.
"Over there, Mistress." Faceless said as he pointed to the ground somewhere to the right. "It seems Kronos is about to launch his desperate attempt to breach Olympus' defenses."
Looking at where her familiar was pointing, Bianca spotted a large group of monsters made out of every type of creature that were part of the Titan Army. A group that as she watched began to rapidly advance towards the Empire State. No, rapidly was an understatement. In a blink of an eye, probably with the help of some Titan or traitor god or the other, it seemed like the entire Titan force had managed to cover the distance from where it had mustered and the Campers' frontlines at the 5th Avenue and 34th Street intersection. Even with the frontlines supported by a large contingent of Gracie's army of Mistform constructs, the Titan force quickly smashed through the defenders and made a break for the Empire State.
If her army is there… Then so is Gracie! And if she's there then Mina and Kura will be too!
"How-"
"It seems that force was directly led by Kronos." Faceless said with a thoughtful hum.
"Kronos is leading that force that just broke through the Empire State's defenses!?"
"Yes, Young Master Nico." Faceless confirmed. "I can sense the Crooked One's au-"
"Enough!" Bianca said urgently. "Nico! Tell your gryphon to pour on the speed! We need to get there ASAP! Big Sister and her family are in trouble!"
"Right! You heard her, boy! Faster! We need to get there yesterday!"
The gryphon let out an acknowledging roar and with another powerful beat of his wings, began pouring on the speed as they hurriedly flew towards the Empire State. They weren't the only ones who saw the threat to their family though as they were soon joined in their rush to the Empire State by a flock of skeletal dragons that Stepmother must have sent to support them.
Bianca barely paid them mind though, not when her mind was filled with only one thought. Please let us make it in time!
Gracie was not having a good time.
Scratch that, her sisters and the Campers defending the Empire State were facing the worst case scenario. The Titans forces had breached the Empire State Building lobby and as they desperately tried to mount some kind of defense to push them out, things had devolved into nothing short of a chaotic mess.
Even worse, Gracie was stuck with her sisters as the trio fought desperately against the Titan, Koios. The aforementioned Titan of the North was truly an intimidating opponent indeed. He was roughly ten feet tall and had blue-white eyes as cold as a glacier. Radiating a militant air as symbolized by his similarly colored hair and beard cut in a military style and a face that though quite handsome were covered by a number of battle scars. An air that was further enhanced by the elaborate black Stygian Iron armor with a single diamond blazing in the breastplate and a helmet shaped like a bear's head that he wore, and the massive sword the size of a surfboard that radiated cold greater than even the most frigid arctic winters that he wielded.
Worse, he had the power to back up his intimidating appearance. Despite her best efforts, Gracie was finding it hard to keep up with the fight. A fight where Mina was doing her best to match the Titan in a crossing of blades. Acting like a dervish of knives, she clashed with the frigid Titan whilst Kura was provided support by bombarding the bear themed immortal with her explosive coasters and decorative rifles. As for the young Sorceress herself, Gracie did his best to offer what support she could too by shooting what spells she could at the Titan. Not that any of their efforts were doing them any real good. The Titan just let her and Kura's efforts wash over him harmlessly. The only one which was any threat to him was Mina but even she could only barely be categorized as such. The Titan's skill with his surfboard sized sword easily out-paced Mina's knifeplay, a state of affairs that made him sneer down at the new age goddess.
"Pitiful!" He boomed like an avalanche. "Your technique is lacking! If you can even call it that. It is little more than you flailing around. How untrained are you, little goddess? Hmph, no doubt you've rarely, if ever, faced opposition stronger than yourself. As expected of a goddess of serial killers."
Kura fumed in the background, "Mina's fought lots of strong-!"
She was cut off by Koios snapping his thick fingers. In response, in a burst of frost, the spirit was suddenly sealed inside a pillar of ice. "Tch, stay silent you little pest. This is a battle between superior beings."
"Kura!" Gracie gasped in horror, racing to her frozen sister's side.
Mina's face turned to panic before violently shifting to rage. "You-! You hurt Kura!"
Her outrage did not last long as Koios teleported in front of her, attacking so swiftly that Mina barely managed to deflect the blow by crossing her knives defensively in front of her. Yet the force of it still sent Mina skidding back and nearly knocked her off her feet.
"Mina, leave Kura to me!" Gracie assured her sister, hoping to quell the goddess' rage. Mina needed to focus on surviving this guy!
Even as she said so, Gracie drew on her Mystiokinesis and conjured a mass of Mist that she shaped into a fireball in her hands. An orb of raging flames that she proceeded to hover over the trapped form of the shocked looking Kura.
It took a few moments, but once her head was freed from the ice, Kura shivered and let out an annoyed whine. "I was frozen!"
"Yes, you should have expected that from fighting the Titan of the North." The Half-blood informed her dryly as she focused on melting the remainder of the ice keeping Kura imprisoned.
"Grr, lousy no good-! He's too strong, Gracie. We need a plan." Kura said, pointing her one newly unfrozen arm over to where Mina was being put through the wringer. "Mina won't last much longer against that big bully."
The daughter of Hecate frowned. As much as she hated to admit it, Kura was right. And it wasn't just Mina that was having trouble! Around them, beyond the ring of her Mistform constructs that were keeping their fight with Koios private, there were Campers and other Olympian defenders fighting their own desperate battles against the seemingly endless stream of monsters that were making their way into the Empire State lobby. A tide of enemies that was slowly but surely overwhelming the defenders as one by one they were exhausted and fell in battle.
"Yes, we need a plan." Gracie agreed as her mind raced, trying to come up with a plan that Olympus willing would be effective against a Titan.
Mina managed to give Janus the run around, but he was a minor god who isn't known for fighting. Koios is an entirely different animal. He has combat experience that far outstrips us and worse, he is the Titan of many types of future sight and shrewdness. He just has too many advantages!
Gracie felt her mind reeling in despair because as she was thinking, Koios decided to prove just how much he outclassed them all. The Half-blood could see Mina getting slower as harsh blue frost slowly began slowly spreading over her body, encasing it. Rime which was slowing her down, making it easier for Koios to take well aimed strikes against the young goddess. A sight that had Gracie's heart leaping into her throat and her chest tightening as she watched her sister slowly but surely begin to take damage. As she began dying by a thousand cuts.
Desperate to come up with a way to help her sister, her mind traced back to the last fight she had seen that involved a being as strong as the Titan of Foresight, the fight between Mina and Janus. And like a bolt of Zeus' lightning, the young sorceress was struck with an epiphany.
"Kura! I have a plan!" She told her youngest sister in a frenzied manner.
"Eh?" Her now freed sister asked, dumbfounded by Gracie's sudden enthusiasm as she wiped some lingering meltwater from her face. "What do you have in mind?"
"I just need you to trust me and lend me some of your power. I'll need it in order to pull off what I've come up with."
Gracie had expected some skepticism but in a display of faith, Kura just nodded. "Okay."
Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, her little sister began to glow with a light blue aura of her power and taking hold of one of Gracie's hands, began channeling her strength into her. As it flowed into her, the Apprentice Sorceress felt like her body was overflowing with strength like she'd never felt before
Kura's strength is proportional to the strength of our family. So that she is so strong to be able to share so much of it with me like this… I knew it, but I never really appreciated it… We Potters are super strong, aren't we?
Pushing aside her thoughts, Gracie used the portal conjuring magic that she'd learned from observing Janus' creation of multiple such in his battle with Mina yesterday to create a portal directly above Koios. A portal that opened up to the mantle layer deep underground and which proceeded to dump a stream of super hot magma directly on top of the Titan of the North.
Yes, she was dumping his mother's very lifeblood on him! Yes, she appreciated the irony of what she did. No, she didn't do it on purpose. Really!
Unlike Mina, who leapt away the moment she sensed Gracie's power flexing, Koios' seemingly arrogant dismissal of that led to him being caught completely by surprise and did not even attempt to defend himself as he found himself bathed in the magma from Gaea's depths. Molten earth that caused Koios to scream in pain as he stumbled out of the rain of magma, with portions of his armor melted away or portions of it seared into his body by the heat whilst his uncovered skin sporting terrible looking burns.
Exploiting this, Mina launched herself at Koios. Too distracted by his injuries, Koios was unable to raise a defense and so the goddess of serial killers slipped into striking distance without any complications. With her so close, the Titan finally reacted and tried to lash out at her but disorientated by his injuries as he was, the swing of his blade was something that Mina easily evaded. She in fact proceeded to turn that evasion into a chance to dance her way behind Koios where she proceeded to leap up at the Titan's back with a large conjured carving knife in hand. A blade that she proceeded to stab down into the base of his neck.
"No!" Koios screamed in pained defiance as Mina's power to impose death began to do its work against him and his body began to turn to ice. "Not like this! Not at the hands at this whelp of a goddess!"
"Don't forget my sisters, Titan. They helped take you down too." Mina said as her knife shifted into a longsword that was honestly way too big for her but which she wielded with ease as she used it to decapitate the dying Titan.
"Not that you'll be able to remember anything when I've made you cease to exist." The goddess of serial killers added smugly as her power to impose death fully took hold and Koios' body and detached head finished collapsing into ice slurry before she turned to Gracie and Kura. "We did it!"
"Yup, we did." Gracie said with a nod as Kura released her hand and the power she was sharing with her stopped flowing into her. "Didn't we, Kura?"
"Un! Un!" Their adorable youngest sister said with enthusiastic nods. "We totally did!"
"But we aren't done yet. There's still plenty of monsters we've got to kill to push the Titan Army back." Gracie said as she gestured at the fighting that the ring of her constructs were keeping away from them.
"Right!" Mina said with a nod before she kicked herself into the air and combined a 360 degree spin with a Fan of Knives to launch a deadly attack that cleared their immediate vicinity of any enemies. "Let's go help everyone else!"
"Totally!" Kura said as she shifted her ornamental rifles into a firing line to face the nearest concentration of monsters before she used them to fire a deadly volley into the enemy ranks.
Gracie just nodded and with a simple mental command, sent her ring of constructs charging into the enemy ranks that Mina and Kura had softened up to destroy even more of them. "Sisters! Char-"
Before she could finish her warcry however, she was interrupted by streams of necrotic energy suddenly shooting down from the sky as they swept across the Titan Army forces that were assailing the Empire State from outside. And as the monsters withered away into gold dust from the death energies that had been unleashed upon them, the source of their demise violently landed amidst their ranks, revealing themselves to be dozens of skeletal dragons. Undead dragons that proceeded to tear into the enemy formations with bony teeth, claw and tail and the occasional burst of necrotic breath. A counterattack that was rapidly turning the tide in the Olympian defenders' favor.
"Gracie! Mina! Kura!" The familiar, concerned voice of Bianca shouted as she and Nico descended on the back of the latter's undead gryphon mount. "Are you alright?"
At her young aunt and uncle's dramatic arrival, Gracie could just turn to them and blink in surprise. "Uh? Yes?"
"We are now!" Mina shouted with a grin as she leapt onto the back of an enemy Hellhound and stabbed the bowie knife she had in hand into its head, killing it.
"Yup! Thanks for the assist, Aunt Bianca, Uncle Nico!" Kura said with a brilliant smile as she helped Mina in culling the pack of Hellhounds that she was killing by shooting a volley of her explosive coasters at them as they fled from the pursuing goddess of serial killers.
A pack whose escape route was blocked by a wave of flames that Aunt Bianca's Will-o'-the-wisp unleashed as she hopped to the ground and Uncle Nico moved his gryphon mount to further cut them off as he brandished his sword threateningly.
"Hi, Aunt Bianca, Uncle Nico. Thanks for coming!" Gracie said, shaking off her surprise as she conjured a fireball out of the Mist and sent it shooting towards the Hellhounds, adding to Aunt Bianca's Will-o'-the-wisp's flames. "Let's work together to destroy the Titans and their army!"
"Gladly!" Uncle Nico said as he and his gryphon leapt over the flames and began engaging the Hellhounds with blade and talon. Between him and Mina, the pack of traitorous Underworld hounds were soon little more than gold dust.
"Of course!" Aunt Bianca chipped in as she directed her Will-o'-the-wisp in continuing to lay down flames against the monster hordes. "We're family, of course we'll come and help."
Conjuring another fireball and sending it flying at the enemy as Kura unleashed a combined volley of both her guns and explosive coasters, Gracie couldn't help but smile. Her family really was the greatest!
Some time earlier…
As Alkaid and Pyrrha exited the portal that her use of Shadow Travel had allowed her to reach the Empire State lobby prepared to confront Kronos, they found the place in absolute chaos. In the intervening time that they took to force themselves through the wards that the Titans had snapped up to delay them, the Titan Army had managed to force their way through the Campers' lines and breached the Empire State, turning it into a battleground.
A quick glance of their surroundings showed Campers and the other Olympian defenders were fighting desperate battles everywhere. Most worryingly Alkaid saw her daughters squaring off against no less than Koios, Titan of the North. A sight so alarming that Alkaid almost instinctively moved to help them and had no choice but to hold herself back. As much as she wanted to help her children, she needed to focus on dealing with Kronos. If she didn't and he reached the Hall of the Gods and destroyed the Olympians' thrones therein then all was lost!
"'Kaidy, I know! But we need to deal with Kronos first!" Pyrrha said echoing her thoughts. "We just have to have faith in our girls and their strength."
Alkaid nodded as she firmly turned away from the sight of her daughters fighting and moved quickly towards the elevator up to Olympus. An area of the lobby that by the piles of gold dust, blood and empty clothes seemed to have seen heavy fighting. "Yes, I know."
"Assistant Activities Director, Miss Pyrrha." A dryad greeted, a nymph that Alkaid recognized as one of the chefs back in Camp kitchens said, as she and Pyrrha reached the ring of dryads and satyrs that were holding the line around the elevator. A defensive circle that was hard pressed by a vicious enemy assault. "A little help!"
"Axel Shooter." Alkaid cast, sending dozens of emerald bullets of magic shooting towards the mixed group of monsters that were attacking the nature spirits and reducing them to gold dust.
"Thank you for that." The chef said with a sigh of relief and clutched at the large kitchen knife that she had been using as a weapon. "I take it that you plan to chase after the Crooked One to confront him?"
"So he made it up already?" Pyrrha asked with a frown and receiving confirming nods from the whole group of nature spirits. "Pit! Then we need to follow him!"
"I, uh, would advise against that, Assistant Activities Director, Miss Pyrrha." The dryad spokeswoman said hesitantly. "You should leave it to the gods. You should stay down here and help us beat back the Titan Army."
Alkaid was tempted. Oh so tempted. If she and Pyrrha stayed, they could go help their daughters in their fight against Koios. But…
"No, we can't do that." Alkaid said with a shake of her head. "Not with everything that is at stake. If grandfather succeeds in destroying the gods' thrones up on Olympus like he surely plans then any victory we achieve down here would be pointless. We need to get up there to stop him. Please let us pass."
"Yeah. We need to stop Kronos." Pyrrha added insistently.
The nature spirits frowned and exchanged looks before finally hesitantly nodding one by one.
"If you insist, we can't and won't stop you." The spokesnymph said with a pleading look, clearly wishing that they would change their mind. "Just be careful, please. Fighting the Crooked One is not to be done lightly."
"We know." Alkaid said with a nod. "We will be careful."
"Trust us." Pyrrha distractedly added as she swung her labrys in the direction of an incoming wave of enemies, sending a swarm of wasp-like explosive projectiles conjured by her Apes Igniferae (Crimson Bees) spell to thin the group of monsters that broke through the porous defenders' lines and tried to charge their position.
The nature spirits nodded and opened up their lines, offering them a path to the elevator leading up to Olympus. As they did, Alkaid and her wife immediately rushed to the machine and with a press of the call button, caused its doors to open before quickly piling inside the car. Inside, they found the button for the 600th floor, the floor for Olympus, was already clearly in view, the magic that usually kept it hidden having been stripped away. The sight had both Alkaid and Pyrrha frowning even as the latter quickly pressed the button for 600th floor and sent the elevator shooting up as fast as it could move up towards Olympus.
"I hope we aren't too late." Pyrrha said, glancing at Alkaid worriedly.
"Just like we have to have faith in our daughters, we have to have faith that we will make it in time." Alkaid replied as she took the opportunity that the relatively long elevator ride up to Olympus offered to pull out a vial of Nectar out of her Umbra Spatium and downed it. She might not be actually running low on energy at the moment, but considering that she was about to be seeking a fight with the King of Mount Othrys, it was only wise to ensure she was in the best condition possible.
"I know. I know." Pyrrha said with a sigh as she too drew a vial of Nectar from the hammerspace inside Akoúo̱ (Listen) and downed it to top up her energy. "I'm just worried."
"I understand." Alkaid said as she tossed her empty vial into her Umbra Spatium. "But the die is cast, we just have to do our best with the situation that we find ourselves in."
Pyrrha did not reply verbally, instead just nodded in agreement and they fell into a tense silence as they waited impatiently for the elevator to reach its destination. Such that the only sound filling the car was the frankly terrible Muzak that played from the elevator's speakers.
It was thus a great relief when the elevator finally reached its destination and its doors opened. Rushing out of the machine and onto the small floating island that housed the elevator that connected the home of the gods with the mortal world below, they found themselves looking on in horror as across the bridge to Olympus proper, the few remaining minor gods on Olympus were dressed in full armor and fighting the Kronos possessed Luke Castellan. A decidedly one-sided confrontation that saw the brave gods being slaughtered one after another.
"Come on, 'Kaidy! We have to hurry and help them!" Pyrrha shouted urgently as she raced towards the bridge.
"I know! I'm right behind you." Alkaid replied as she ran after her wife and gathered her magic to cast a spell in support of the minor gods.
However, they were still a good way from the bridge and before she could finish the spell she was casting, when the world around Alkaid and Pyrrha suddenly exploded. Acting purely on instinct, the daughter of Hades dumped the magic she'd prepared for her attack spell into a defensive one instead. Said Oval Protection saved them from the powerful explosion that had not only almost killed them but also shattered the bridge to Olympus.
"Shit!" Pyrrha cursed. "'Kaidy, we need to cross the gap. You think we can apparate across?"
"You are not getting across, Half-bloods!" A most unwelcome but sadly familiar voice said from behind them, causing Alkaid and Pyrrha to spin around to find the goddess of magic as she dropped the invisibility spell that had kept her hidden till now.
"Circe," Alkaid hissed. "We don't have time to deal with you, coward."
"Don't call me that!" Circe roared as she conjured a bolt of raw force that she hurled at the two Half-bloods, shattering Alkaid's dome shaped barrier but not before it drained the goddess' spell of its destructive strength. "I am tired of hearing that! My pride won't allow it!"
"Then maybe don't be such a coward." Pyrrha snapped back as she swung her labrys and combined it with a casting of her Tidal Slash spell, sent a thin, cutting wave at the Immortal Sorceress. "And didn't you hear my wife? Get out of our way! We don't have time for you."
"Make time." Circe haughtily insisted as with a wave of her hand, she conjured a wall of Mist that blocked Pyrrha's Tidal Slash.
Glancing over the ruined bridge and seeing that Kronos was done with the courageous minor gods that had tried to waylay him and had moved on, Alkaid frowned. If they wanted to catch up with him, they needed to make this fight with Circe quick. And yes, she and Pyrrha would need to deal with the traitorous goddess. There was no way that the Immortal Sorceress would let them pass without them beating her first.
Pit damn it! Alkaid cursed to herself even as she primed her magic for the fight ahead.
"I suppose we will." The daughter of Hades said as she non-verbally cast a Shockwave, sending a compact green ball of mana that formed in front of an open palm shooting towards Circe, where it proceeded to destroy her Mist barrier and caused the reality warping fog that had made it up to spread around them in a thick bank.
"I am glad you agree." The goddess said with a smirk as she shaped portions of it into dozens of spherical monsters that looked like fireballs with small vestigial looking arms and a face that consisted of cartoonish eyes and a wicked, toothy grin. Monsters that with a sharp gesture at Alkaid and Pyrrha, she sent shooting towards the two Half-bloods.
Perhaps it was their appearance or just because they were summoned by Circe, Alkaid's instincts screamed at her that the fireball shaped monsters were a major threat. Thus acting on the warning that they were offering her, Pyrrha shouted at her wife.
"Py, don't let those monsters get close!"
"I've got it, 'Kaidy!" The daughter of Ares shouted back as with a powerful swing of her labrys she cast a spell. "Wind Wall!"
At her abbreviated incantation, Pyrrha's spell conjured a strong wind barrier shaped in a dome that easily defended both of them from Circe's summoned monsters. Monsters that slammed into the wind barrier, each of them self-destructing in powerful explosions as they did so.
Alkaid was not idle whilst her beloved shielded them and even as Pyrrha maintained her Wind Wall, she counterattacked by shooting a Elmekia Lance: Phalanx Formation at Circe through the smokescreen created by the exploding monsters, sending dozens of lances of light shooting through it and dispersing it in the process. Much to her annoyance, as the smoke cleared however, it was revealed that Circe was no longer where she'd been when she conjured the monsters and thus her spell had hit nothing.
The daughter of Hades was just registering that fact when her instincts screamed at her and she pivoted to the side in response just as Circe teleported in front of her and tried to slash at her with a blade that was attached to her right arm. A blade that upon a closer examination was in truth some kind of mantid-like monster. One whose no doubt deadly bite her timely evasion allowed her to escape but only by mere inches.
Seeking to gain distance, Alkaid leapt back. At the same time, Pyrrha rushed forward to put herself between Alkaid and Circe, just in time to parry a follow-up thrust by the traitor. A move that in the wake of which, the Immortal Sorceress followed Alkaid's lead and leapt back. Pyrrha did not press the attack, instead falling into a tight guard as she warily watched their divine opponent for any sign of her next move.
"I'm surprised, Circe." The daughter of Hades addressed the goddess tauntingly. "You seem serious about this fight. I wonder though, are you going to run the moment that we wound you like the last time we fought?"
"That won't be a problem." Circe shot back confidently. "I've used self-hypnosis to overcome my cowardice."
"At least you're honest about your failings." Pyrrha said with a snort as tired of waiting for their opponent to make a move, she rushed forward to attack first instead. "But I'm surprised you don't know this: hypnosis is bunk."
Laughing dismissively, Circe waved her hand and shaped some of the Mist into dozens of serpentine bolts made of lightning. Conjurations that with a gesture, she sent snaking through the air towards Pyrrha and Alkaid.
"Mortal hypnosis might be quackery, but I am a goddess. My hypnosis is infallible!"
"Exelion Shield." Alkaid incanted, conjuring a multilayered shield that protected both Pyrrha and herself from Circe's conjured monsters which self-destructed against it, harmlessly releasing powerful bursts of electricity.
"We will believe it when we see it." The Half-blood Sorceress said skeptically as her barrier, having served its purpose, faded.
"Gotta agree with 'Kaidy. I'll believe it when I see it." Pyrrha chimed in with her agreement as shielded from Circe's attack, she continued her charge whilst Alkaid further covered her with a barrage of explosive purple daggers that she had conjured with a Todesdolch.
Annoyingly however, Circe was unfazed by the magical daggers flying her way. She just casually waved her free hand and conjured knife shaped bugs out of the surrounding Mist that shot towards Alkaid's own barrage, perfectly intercepting them.
Even worse, just as she was about to get within melee range, the ground under Pyrrha suddenly exploded, sending her flying. Smirking in satisfaction at the daughter of war falling into her trap and was disorientated, Circe suddenly leapt forward with her sword bug poised to run Alkaid's wife through. A turn of events that sent a shiver of fear shooting up Alkaid's spine.
Fear that proved unnecessary however as before Circe could get into range, Pyrrha apparated out of the way of the blade that was poised to impale her. Breathing a sigh of relief at that, Alkaid reacted to the opening that Pyrrha's evasion created by casting Firestorm and conjuring a fire tornado right where Circe currently was. Without using the spell's incantation, the conjured flames were weak but if the pained scream that the goddess let loose as she was surrounded by them was any indication, it was still strong enough.
Disapparating beside her, Pyrrha piped up. "Guess her hypnosis works after all. If it didn't, getting caught up in your flames like that would've had her fleeing already."
"Yes, I've gotta agree." Alkaid agreed even as with a burst of power, Circe dispersed the flames.
Looking slightly singed but mostly unharmed, Circe turned to Alkaid and Pyrrha and addressed them with an angry growl. "You'll pay for that trap!"
Alkaid and Pyrrha exchanged a side-eyed look.
Trap? What trap? Alkaid thought to herself with a cocked eyebrow.
That was all she was able to think before with a wave of her hand, Circe shaped large parts of the still present Mist into six whirling vortices of wind and electricity that took the form of Eastern dragons that began curling intimidatingly and gracefully through the air towards Alkaid and Pyrrha.
Casting Exelion Shield again, Alkaid allowed the incoming Mistform constructs to hit the barrier where they discharged the furious power that they were made out of. She had not however expect Circe to use the cover of her conjurations to close the distance, but thankfully Pyrrha had and she quickly slipped in front of her and caught the goddess' sword bug in a lock.
"Out of the way, you pest." A frustrated Circe growled as using her free left hand, she gathered together a mass of Mist and shaped it into a fireball that she shot at the daughter of Ares. An attack that since she was caught in a blade lock with Circe, Pyrrha was simply unable to evade and thus sent her flying.
Alkaid would have worried about her wife, particularly as she had doubts that the armor wards she'd cast on Pyrrha would hold up against the power that a goddess could put behind a spell, but she sadly did not have the wherewithal to do so. Not when with the daughter of war out of the way, Circe had charged in front of her and was swinging at her hard.
Jumping back and narrowly avoiding the blade of Circe's sword bug was only the first of a series of desperate evasions as the goddess pressed the attack. Evasions that required every bit of her gymnastics skill to allow to continually escape the swings of Circe's blade and the occasional spell she sent her way.
"'Kaidy!" Pyrrha cried out in alarm, sending a surge of relief rushing through Alkaid's mind at the proof that her wife was fine. Relief that turned into happiness at what her beloved said next. "Hang in there! I'll back you up!"
However, before she could, the elevator at the center of the small floating island they were fighting on let out a loud chime signaling that someone had just arrived from the Empire State. New arrivals that they had to check on.
"Don't worry about me!" Alkaid urged her wife. "See who's arrived!"
"I don't think you have time to worry about others." Circe said as she attempted a powerful overhead swing at the daughter of Hades that forced the Half-blood to roll out of the way.
"You should take your own advice, Circe." Alkaid snapped back as he rolled back to her feet. "Chain Bind!"
At her incantation, the spell conjured dozens of green magical chains that proceeded to wrap themselves around the goddess, restraining her.. The spell was designed to bind multiple targets at once but when used on a single target, it was especially effective. Not that she thought that it would keep the goddess restrained for long. But it would be long enough.
"Argh!" Circe cried out in anger. "Do you honestly think this would be enough to hold me, mortal!?"
Ignoring her, Alkaid dramatically used a series of cartwheels - So her thinking was stuck in gymnastics mode after using it as extensively as she did in her earlier evasions! Sue her! -, Alkaid quickly got as far away from her opponent as she could and towards her wife. Landing from her last aerial next to Pyrrha, Alkaid saw just who the new arrivals from the Empire State were. It seems Percy, Annabeth and Grover had followed in their footsteps and had decided to chase after Kronos.
Percy opened his mouth to explain things but Alkaid ignored him. Instead, she turned to Pyrrha. "Py, I'll keep Circe busy. Help them across to Olympus, would you?"
As if to prove the need to continue keeping Circe occupied, with a furious roar, the goddess unleashed a burst of raw power as she snapped the chains binding her and turned to glare at Alkaid. "I will kill you, Potter! Slowly and painfully!"
"Hurry and get them across!" Alkaid shouted at her wife as she conjured an Exelion Shield to protect them from the barrage of mixed bomb, living lighting, knife bug and wind and electric dragon monsters that Circe conjured and launched at them.
"Right! I'll be quick and come help you as soon as I am done."
Pyrrha just nodded and with an incantation of "Wingardium Leviosa", she hurriedly began using the Levitation Charm to levitate the trio across the shattered bridge to Olympus.
Percy isn't arguing to stay and help Pyrrha and I in fighting Circe? Alkaid thought with pleasant surprise as she cast Aqua Jet, conjuring a couple dozen pressurized beams of water as a little retaliation in response to the goddess' still unrelenting barrage. It seems he's grown up a little.
Easily using Mist to conjure barriers against the water jets that Alkaid's Aqua Jet had shot at her, as she had expected, Circe, in imitation of her previous tactics, used her own barrage as cover to attempt to close into melee.
So predictable. Alkaid thought with a smirk as Circe fell right into her trap. Eat a Ground Dasher!
As the goddess charged blindly towards them, she ran right over the spot where Alkaid had dropped a Spell Card charged with the aforementioned spell. A spell that upon being triggered by the Immortal Sorceress caused the ground underneath her feet to abruptly collapse under her. If they were in the mortal world, this would have caused Circe to be trapped in a sinkhole. However, here on a floating island connected to Olympus, it instead sent the goddess falling towards Manhattan far below.
"That should buy us some time." Alkaid declared with a sigh of relief and turned to Pyrrha, seeing that her wife had just finished levitating Percy's group across the destroyed bridge and depositing Grover on the Olympus side of the gap.
"Alkaid! Pyrrha! Come over too! We can fight Kronos together!" Percy shouted at them pleadingly from across the remains of the bridge.
"We can't. We need to deal with Circe."
"What are you talking about, Alkaid? Didn't you just defeat-"
"You are a fool, Percy Jackson, if you think that I would be defeated so easily." The goddess said ominously from behind Alkaid and Pyrrha.
"Go! We've got this handled!" Pyrrha shouted at a hesitant Percy, who with Circe's return was being pulled away by Annabeth and Grover.
Alkaid barely paid attention to that, instead choosing to turn to face Circe who had escaped her fall to Manhattan and teleported to stand across from the very hole in the floating island that she had fallen through a moment ago.
"If you want to get to Percy and the others, you will have to get through us first." Alkaid told the Immortal Sorceress determinedly.
"I had no intention to." Circe scoffed. "I have no interest in them. You are my opponents."
Shooting a swarm of her explosive wasp-like projectiles courtesy of her Apes Igniferae (Crimson Bees) spell at their divine opponent, Pyrrha addressed the goddess. "So you won't mind going for a second round with us?"
"Gladly." Circe said with a smirk as she intercepted Pyrrha's Apes Igniferae with a volley of her knife bugs.
"Then we should get started." Alkaid said as she cast Diabolic Emission. A spell that conjured a ball of energy that expanded at a rapid pace until it was the size of a large building before it imploded just as quickly as it was made, releasing a wave of deadly energy as it did so.
Shielded from the power of her own spell by a green barrier conjured by a basic Round Shield, Alkaid waited for Circe's response. And just as she expected, Circe retaliated by teleporting in to attempt to attack them in melee.
She really is so very predictable. Alkaid thought with an amused smirk as just as the goddess was mid-swing with her sword bug, she activated a couple of Spell Cards that she had prepared for the occasion. The first card released a Struggle Bind that conjured magical chains that wrapped around Circe. Chains absorbed the energy from the struggles of those whom they were used to bind to strengthen themselves to better keep them restrained. These bindings were further supplemented by a Restrict Lock that conjured magic rings around the goddess and even more ropes of magical energy that joined those already created by the Struggle Bind in wrapping themselves around Circe.
It was a robust set of bindings that could keep most targets trapped for a long, long time. However, Circe was not most targets. And she knew it too, which was why she responded to being restrained by scoffing.
"Do you expect these binding spells will hold me for long?" The goddess of magic asked tauntingly as flaring her power, she began to snap her bindings one by one.
"They don't need to." Alkaid told her with a shrug.
Circe made to reply but before she could say a word with a loud pop, Pyrrha disapparated behind the bound goddess. The daughter of war was surrounded by the blood red aura of her Αιμοληψία (Bloodlust) spell that she had cast on herself the moment that Circe had been caught in Alkaid's trap. Enhanced by the spell, Pyrrha swung her labrys, enhanced by a Hesken spell that the witch had cast on it just before she apparated into position and which gave it a red aura not unlike a chainsaw, at Circe's neck. The goddess' armor wards flashed into being as Pyrrha's weapon met them just a hair's breadth away from her flesh but with the daughter of war's spell enhanced strength and the improved cutting power of her weapon courtesy of Hesken, they quickly failed. And thus it was only with minimal resistance that in a single stroke, Pyrrha cut Circe's head clean off.
As golden ichor geysered out of the stump of the goddess' neck and her remains began to glow gold, Alkaid hastily shouted out a warning. "Pyrrha! Close your eyes!"
Taking her own advice, the daughter of Hades hastily shut her eyes. She had barely done so when Circe's body exploded in golden light that only a pair of hastily non-verbally cast Oval Protections shields protected her and Pyrrha from.
"'Kaidy, did we just kill Circe?" Pyrrha asked incredulously when the fury of Circe's death finally calmed. "Did we just kill a goddess!?"
Summoning a magical platform under them both that she used to carry them across the ruined bridge to Olympus, Alkaid shrugged as she replied. "Yes, but only for a certain definition of killed."
Pyrrha just looked at her with a deep and thoughtful frown.
Alkaid knew what that look meant and hastily clarified for the sake of her annoyed wife. She would be sleeping on the couch for gods knew how long if she didn't. "We did just kill Circe, but since she is an immortal goddess with a popular legend, she won't stay dead. It will be a while but she'll be revived soon enough."
"So what? She's like a monster then?" The daughter of war asked.
"Not quite." Alkaid said, waving her hand in a seesaw motion. "She won't be sent to Tartarus to reform, but rather will just do so in whatever place is her seat of power. If I'd have to guess, that would most likely be her resort in the Sea of Monsters."
Gesturing at the empty sets of armor that were all that remained of the brave minor gods that had tried to fight Kronos, Alkaid continued. "Just like these gods will be revived in their own places of power if their legends are stable enough to prevent them from fading entirely as a result of this death."
Her wife nodded, "Gotcha. Just hope that Circe doesn't hold a grudge. Last thing we need is another god-level nemesis."
Alkaid let out a throaty chuckle at that as her magical platform deposited them on Olympian soil. "No need to worry, my love. With how much of a coward Circe is, she'll be too terrified of the fact we managed to kill her to even think of coming after us again."
"I hope that's the case." Pyrrha frowned as she reached into Akoúo̱'s hammerspace to pull out a couple vails of Nectar. After their exhausting fight against Circe, it was wise to restore a little of their energy. Especially if they were to face Kronos next.
"Fret not, Py. For now, we need to catch up with Grandfather. Though, with the fact that Olympus is still standing? He's either still fighting or has lost. We need to find out which." Alkaid said with a nod as she took one of the vails from Pyrrha and downed it.
"Yeah, save the world and all that." Her wife agreed and downed her own vail. "Done?"
"Yes." Alkaid said as she tossed her finished vail into a portal to her Umbra Spatium even as Pyrrha put away her own inside Akoúo̱'s hammerspace.
"Then let's go!" Pyrrha said as the pair of them bolted through Olympus' streets towards the Hall of the Gods, where the greatest seats of the Olympians' power stood and which was the target of the Crooked One's storming of Olympus.
The Second Titanomachy was reaching its climax, for good or ill, and Alkaid and Pyrrha were determined to be there to see how it ended.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
Sweet hell, talk about a fight! From all the Potters to the kids of Hades, it was insane! Yet, here we are after so long, the near conclusion of the first series of Percy Jackson: Daughter of Hades edition. It's been a long, long road since the first time she went to Hogwarts, but Alkaid's made it! And lived! Yay living!
Nameless: Hope you guys like our conclusion to the Second Titanomachy for the COTUverse. We tried to get all of our regular cast a chance to shine, hopefully we did so successfully. Do let us know what you think on the matter. Of them, I personally like the fight with Circe best. I particularly liked her anti-climatic death the most. I think she deserves it. ;)
I loved the Mina fight the most. Or would we call it Gracie stealing the win for coming up with the strat to win? Either way, seeing the girls pull off such a win in such a dire situation? So proud of 'em! Just the sibs working together to get the edge for the win was great. But yes, Circe's death was hilariously sad for her, she's going to be feeling that for centuries.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!
