Percy had really thought that someday he would leave his days of fighting titans behind but alas it clearly wasn't the time yet. No, today he would be fighting a titan that he had actually never encountered before. Well, he wouldn't be fighting alone but that was about it for the bright side. Artemis had pulled him aside yesterday to inform him of two things, though one was more of her needing affirmation from elsewhere rather than him being actually involved in it. First he would join the goddess in fighting Perses since they were the only beings that could fight and withstand Perses true form which would otherwise obliterate any mortal in the vicinity. Percy still didn't know just how true forms actually worked but if Artemis said that it could kill his friends he certainly wouldn't risk it.
Secondly Perses had apparently gathered about two hundred monsters under his flag which was very concerning to the goddess as even with their individual talent the hunters wouldn't be able to defeat something of that level. He had spent more than ten minutes just calming her down and reassuring her that the legion would march to battle together with the hunt and that they would be fine before she finally regained some of her composure, at least enough to face her hunt.
It was a weird feeling, needing to be a pillar of comfort for a goddess. Sure, he had done this plenty of times for demigods, lending them an ear, comforting them or reassuring them that everything would be okay. Sometimes even lying to them, telling them sweet nothings instead of the cold truth. It was ugly and painful but it was the reality of war and a reality he was unfortunate enough to grow up in. As he had now found out, even gods weren't above these emotions and insecurities and Artemis still had the scars from losing almost her entire hunt not long ago.
Honestly, he shared her worry. Sure, Thalia was strong. So were Frank, Hazel and Annabeth. None of them were at risk even in a battle of this scale, not really at least. But all it took was one mistake and the little voice of doubt and insecurity that plagued his head sometimes was all too aware of that. Especially given that many of the hunters and legionaries were far too young and inexperienced. He was just pointlessly worrying right now, they needed the demigods to fight the monsters as he and Artemis could only fight Perses effectively when he was separated from his forces and at least the leaders of the demigods were all people he knew to be highly capable.
He just had to trust them to do their part…and so did Artemis. It was vexing and terrifying but necessary nonetheless. Still, he found himself awake until late into the night plagued by the exact same thoughts that Artemis herself had opened up about just a few hours ago. Was that hypocritical of him? To tell her things would be fine just to then worry and keep his own fears to himself? Maybe it was but he was far too used to it by now. He had done this before every major battle he fought, always praying to whatever greater being there was, meaning Chaos and Void apparently, that their side would win, that Annabeth would survive, that there wouldn't be any casualties or at least not many. And he had never gotten used to truly opening up about that fear. Everyone had it and everyone knew that everyone had it but talking about it was something else. Even confiding in Annabeth, his girlfriend at the time, had been unbearably difficult and he had only done it a handful of times, not to mention telling anyone else.
So he kept to himself this time too. It took longer than usual but he found himself asleep eventually and he didn't need much sleep anyways. Even better, he didn't dream anymore. Technically that had been a thing since Alaska but he had automatically assumed it would return once he returned home. It hadn't, perhaps because he was now immortal or because…no, definitely because he was immortal. Anyways, he had a good sleep, shortened as it may have been.
When he got up, it was awfully obvious that he wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. All around him the younger hunters looked tired and groggy and he would take any bet that parts of the legion looked the same. But that wouldn't change what laid ahead now. Without even registering it fully, Percy went through the usual routine of breakfast and changing into battle armour and for once he didn't even feel like an outsider in the hunt. Though he couldn't really appreciate it since instead the hunt had the mood of a funeral the entire morning. Even Artemis trying her hardest to cheer up and motivate the younger girls together with Thalia and two other hunters he recognised way back from the battle of Manhattan couldn't lift their spirits or calm their nerves. It was fortunate that the hunters would be in the backlines as archers today.
Both he and Artemis however soon had to stop worrying about the hunt as they set out right after eating to take up their spot. Since Artemis could conceal herself expertly and he was…well, not a god they could sneak relatively close to Perses before luring his troops away using the legion and facing the titan in direct combat. A simple plan that relied heavily on them just winning the confrontation but as arrogant as it may sound, both he and Artemis were excellent fighters. But for now they had to first get into the fight they wanted and that was already the first big hurdle.
Percy had never considered himself very stealthy and so he was utterly terrified of somehow getting them noticed to the point where he was slowing them down a lot. They had plenty of time, yes, but once they came close to Perses' location, Percy just became afraid of creating sound. Oh how glad he would be to just turn these irrational fears off once. He was also worried that his aura would somehow leak and alert the titan but Artemis had given him one of Hecate's potions to prevent exactly that and as far as he could tell the potion was working.
While he was sure that Artemis was at least mildly annoyed by how slow he was, they did reach the spot close to Perses and his forces that Artemis had scouted out yesterday and were now waiting while covered all around by bushes and foliage. For Percy that meant he was just trying to sit as still as he possibly could, something quite torturous for his typically restless body. For Artemis that was different as the goddess used her connection to the forest to view the approach of the legion and keep track of when they needed to step in.
They were both pretty certain that Perses would stay behind when his army marched to meet the legion head-on as he couldn't fight due to the ancient laws but they would need to fight some monsters themselves if he for whatever reason didn't do that. Luckily that eventuality never came to pass as Artemis opened her eyes not long after and she honestly didn't even need to say anything. The march of the monsters close to the, was loud enough to speak for itself. Still, Artemis signalled him to come closer to her as she…made another bush grow? Percy didn't know she could do them but the bush quickly covered them completely while all around them an army moved to battle. Next to him Artemis had her eyes trained on something that he couldn't even see from his position but he could guess what it was anyways.
As if to prove him right, a wave of what he could only call pure evilness came right from the spot Artemis was eyeing, confirming the titan's whereabouts. They waited just a little longer, watching more monsters pass by, many in a hurry to get away from the titan. When only a few remained, Artemis waved her hand again to make the bush covering them grow backwards and disappear. Before any nearby monster could even think to sound an alarm, they were already pierced by an arrow from the goddess. Quickly, Artemis took to the trees as she continued to take out any straggling monster that could interfere in their fight with the titan.
Percy went straight for said titan in the meantime, hoping to lock him into combat as soon as possible. To his surprise, that plan worked. Without even questioning his presence at all, Perses just grinned when he saw the son of Poseidon approach. "Ah, how delightful. Did you think you could stop a titan to protect your friends? What a foolish hero, let me show you just how wrong you are to believe that…"
So it would seem that Perses at least couldn't recognise him. That was good. Even better, the titan was in his face before he knew it, trying to cleave him in half with a rather large longsword that he wielded with ease, his titanic strength coming in handy. Percy on the other hand met the titan's onslaught with a series of blocks and parries. Despite his aggressive approach, Perses wasn't foolish enough to rush in directly and held himself back enough to not create any decisive openings so they seperated after the barrage from the titan without either of them having drawn blood.
What did happen however is that the titan now took Percy seriously and unfortunately that also made him more cautious. Following from here, Perses started prodding Percy, looking for any weakness in his guard while abusing the range advantage he held. Percy on the other hand parried and blocked anything thrown his way, even feinting some gaps in his guard to lure the titan closer. Eventually this bore fruit as Perses stepped forward to lunge at his stomach just to have his blade deflected. Capitalising on his opponent's mistake, Percy lunged forward in stride, unleashing a barrage of attacks. To his credit, the titan did masterfully defend himself, blocking and deflecting whatever Percy threw his way. Yet somehow, after training with Void for years and always having his blade seemingly just glide away from his target, steered by the most minute of touches, Perses now felt almost sloppy, using much more strength every time he defended. More strength than necessary.
That was the opening Percy needed as he feigned a particularly powerful slash to the titan's chest before slowing his blade at the last moment. Catching Perses off-guard, the titan tried to block his opponent's blade and knock it aside, something prevented simply by the lack of strength behind said blade as Percy just twisted his own arm and let Perses' longsword slide over his own as he pulled his arm back and stabbed forward. Immediately he was rewarded with a frustrated growl. Percy had drawn first blood. It was a minor wound as his blade had only grazed the stomach of the titan due to a surprisingly fast reaction from the large figure but it cemented him a mental advantage. One that he would use.
And so their deadly dance continued as Percy continuously tried to keep his offense going, only switching to defense when the titan managed to create distance. It wasn't a perfect fight from him, Perses also got some cuts in and was annoyingly good at focusing specifically Percy's left leg at that but the titan by now also had ichor pour from several wounds across his torso and arms. Neither had landed a decisive blow yet but Percy was starting to like his odds. Said odds were improved even more when from his right side behind the titan, an arrow pierced the shoulder of his adversary. With a pained groan Perses spun around to deflect the next arrow fired by the goddess of the hunt just to have the back of his leg cut through by Riptide moments later.
The titan was caught in a pincer attack and while he recovered fairly quickly, the damage was done. Both of his legs spotted a deep cut respectively and three arrows were lodged into him at the same time too. Not to mention that despite escaping their pincer attack, Perses would still need to defeat them now in a weakened state when he couldn't even get a definitive advantage over Percy in a duel. The titan was cornered. And just like Artemis predicted, that caused him to bring out his true form. In a flash of light and heat, Perses body seemingly turned to light just for it to be struck by a beam of light from behind Percy moments later as the titan reverted to his normal form immediately, breathing heavily and now bleeding from many more wounds.
With a quick glance behind him, he found that Artemis didn't look much better, panting and bleeding just as profusely. But he wasn't and that was the deciding factor. With one quick stride he stepped up to Perses and put Riptide onto the titan's chest, threatening to pierce his defenseless heart. From the start, this had been their preferred outcome. Should they kill Perses, Tartarus would just revive him so they needed him alive. Artemis getting this injured wasn't part of the plan but he also didn't know how she got injured in the first place.
"Perses, you've lost. Your life is at our mercy. Surrender now and swear upon destruction itself that you will not lay hands on Olympus or its allies directly or indirectly within the next three centuries and I shall spare you, refuse and you shall die here and now. What do you say?"
Without letting it show, Percy was praying for him to surrender. For Perses to no longer be a concern for Olympus for the foreseeable future. Said hopes were just about crushed however when a wicked grin covered the titan's face, menace shining deep within. Contradictory to that was the hate-filled voice of the titan echoing all around at the same time. "Alright, you win brat. I swear upon Destruction that I will ot directly or indirectly attack or harm Olympus or its allies for the coming three centuries. Happy?"
Percy was surprised. The titan had looked so positively evil and vicious that he had expected him to choose death but he hadn't. Sure, Perses would look to fight him again once his oath was over but for the duration of it he was bound to it. After all, the titan had sworn upon his very domain, an oath that binds any immortal as they could lose their very immortality if they break it. With a relieved sigh, Percy turned around to take a look at Artemis and the injuries she had received, ignoring the loud sound of Perses slowly getting back up. Even without an oath, Percy would honor his word to not kill the titan now.
In a moment of terrifying realisation however, he saw Artemis widen her eyes in shock at something behind him and he could only barely turn around to come face to face with Perses' blade to see it…stop? Mere moments before cleaving him in half, the blade had halted before Percy and together with it, Perses' entire body was frozen.
"Should I take that as an insult, titan? Making an oath on my name and breaking it right after, do you truly think me so weak as to dare do that?" With a start Percy recognised Void's voice, albeit now with a much more authoritative tone to it. Turning towards him, Percy saw what was almost a different aspect as a whole. Instead of laid back and casual, Void looked formal and imposing, donning ornate armour and a literal crown that was woven into his head. His eyes, normally as comforting as a visualisation of true death could be, which was surprisingly a lot, were now a dark abyss with two rings of pure white in them. Not light, just white. He looked terrifying. Powerful and terrifying.
Slowly, Void was taking step after step towards the still frozen titan. Only when he was right in front of Perses did said titan suddenly get freed and faster than Percy thought possible, Perses had jumped back almost two hundred meters, flicking into his true form momentarily. This turned out to be useless though as reality itself seemed to cave in on the titan, making him appear before Void again who was now slowly shaking his head. "No, no, brat. You picked this fight, you don't get to run now. At least die with integrity, will you?"
Somehow despite the menacing wording, Void sounded genuinely disappointed. It was almost psychotic. Or was this sociopathic? One of the two anyways. But Perses got the message this time and raised his longsword. His body now somehow healed, he charged at Void who in a true display of a difference in class didn't even pull out a weapon. Instead he just wove in between the titan's attacks, dodging every single one while having the audacity to look bored.
"Perses, you've called yourself as one of my domain for millennia after getting the title of 'Destroyer', have dishonoured my name through your actions and all that for what? To keep power with your meager strength? To be feared? Is that all there is to your shallow ambition?" As if to prove his point, Void struck. With a sickening sound of metal bending, the primordial lodged his fist into the titan's stomach, leaving a deep dent in his armour but not sending him flying and instead only making him fall over. Before the titan could get back up, Void loomed over him, his features now turned into a harsh scowl. As he spoke, his voice was firm and laced with immense power.
"Perses, hear my verdict: You have stolen my domain, stained my name through your actions and now you've insulted me once more by making a mockery of your oath. As penance I promise you this, you shall return to purgatory and suffer there, your existence scorned by the domains I touch and your power frail. You will live in the shadows, fearing the light of those above you and fleeing the very echo of their presence and when you finally meet your end I will be there and I will bring you the true destruction you so foolishly impersonated. That is my punishment to you, Perses. Now begone."
The entire time Void was staring straight into Perses' eyes, watching the fear creep into them before the primordial slowly leaned down and laid his hand on Perses' cheek making him crumble into golden dust just from a simple touch. A cold shiver went down Percy's spine as Void turned around to him and looked him up and down, his entire look morphing into what Percy was used to. "That was a good fight, Percy. I'll be seeing you soon, probably both of you."
Even though he knew that Void didn't mean it like that, Percy couldn't help but feel threatened after what he just witnessed. He had just seen the grim reaper of gods show what he really is and somehow he felt like that would haunt him for quite a while. Before anything more could be said, the primordial disappeared again, no trace of him remaining other than the puddle of golden dust laying where Perses was just moments ago.
It took a moment before Percy came back to his senses, his eyes refocusing on the still injured Artemis in front of him. He quickly fished in his pockets before pulling out a piece of ambrosia and offering it to her, something she accepted quickly. Neither of them talked much, both thinking over what had just occurred and Percy appreciated the silence right now. Before he knew it, Artemis had finished the ambrosia and expectedly looked not much better. Maybe one or two gashes healed but that's it.
In hindsight it kinda makes sense that ambrosia would be less effective on gods given that they were far more powerful in turn but the little boost in power seemed to still be enough for Artemis as she used it to flash away and disappear. If he had to guess, then she was probably on Olympus either reporting back to the council or getting treatment from her brother.
It took another moment of silence before Percy was awoken to the situation around him again. There was a battle nearby and its sounds slowly became more and more audible to him. With a start he bolted off into the direction the most noise came from, zipping past trees and vaulting over rocks until he arrived at the scene of battle and without even stopping to analyse anything, Percy jumped in. He had unknowingly flanked the opposing forces and he leveraged that by quickly cutting down three of them.
Under his feet, the earth started to rumble, small tremors slowing down the monsters around them and turning them into easy prey as he started his path of carnage. One by one monsters fell to his blade and soon the battle, which had already been in favour of the Romans, started to come to an end as the monsters started to break formation and were then just easy targets for the hunters and their arrows. With a relieved sigh, Percy lowered his blade, finally taking a moment to look around. The small field they fought on was covered in a layer of thin golden dust and spoils laying around. The legion looked to be fine, he could spot a few bodies on the ground and some of them probably weren't alive anymore either but given the scale of the battle it was a small amount.
Taking a closer look, he counted five dead bodies he could see, none belonging to a huntress. Given that hundreds of monsters had marched against them, this was a great result yet he didn't feel like celebrating. While Percy was still observing the scene, Thalia walked up to him, an inquisitive look on her face. "Where's Lady Artemis?"
Without taking his eyes off the legion, Percy gave her the explanation she was looking for. "She flashed away. After Perses died, she took a moment to recover and then disappeared on me. I don't know where she went exactly but I'd guess Olympus since we just killed a titan. Also she was pretty injured so maybe she got herself treatment on the way."
"What do you mean she was injured? How are you fine then?" Thalia gave him an incredulous look, clearly doubting his ability to outdo the goddess of the hunt. Rightfully so given he still wasn't sure how she even got injured. "I don't know. When we got an advantage over Perses he suddenly pulls out his true form and then Artemis pulls out hers and then suddenly both of them are down with heavy injuries. I honestly couldn't see what happened."
While Thalia did give him another long look to see if he was lying in any way, she shrugged her shoulders in the end and wandered off, jogging to a group of hunters to check on them. While it sounded hard to believe, Thalia had just as little knowledge about how true forms of immortals worked as he had so she couldn't correct him at all. Deciding to copy his cousin, Percy also ran off, calling upon some water before finding the most injured person in the immediate vicinity. He had slight healing powers so he would help with what he could. The poor boy, probably 12 or 13, had been impaled by a spear just below his vital organs so while there were already healers on him, Percy quickly joined, stabilising him using the water and healing any small gashes he could find to alleviate his suffering just a little while the more capable children of Apollo worked on their healing.
In that manner, the sun soon started to set after Percy ran from injury to injury for the past couple hours. He didn't like how the Romans had treated him and disregarded the possibility of him being innocent entirely but he'd be damned to let this little bias cost the life of anyone, especially someone barely old enough to even fight at all. In total, Percy assisted in dozens of medical procedures ranging from normal flesh wounds to mortal injuries and he hoped that he at least madema difference for some of them. While working on the last few minor injuries, he overheard that a total of seven demigods had fallen and that their funeral would be held tomorrow. Somewhere he made a note to at least stay for that occasion.
He also saw Frank a few times, the revered war hero was making rounds to console young legionaries and visit the wounded. Hazel was at his side later too, something Percy found out to be because she had been injured herself, albeit only with a minor wound. He couldn't see Annabeth for the first few hours but she also showed herself later to make rounds and try her best at cheering people up. They had been victorious after all.
Percy didn't get to have a word with any of them but they also all knew that they had higher priorities right now. As such he was surprised to be met with a second bear hug from Frank when he finally left the infirmary. Apparently he had waited for Percy to finish up when his own duty ended and before long they were sitting in a small cafe somewhere in New Rome, just talking. They had a lot of gazes on them but that didn't matter for either of them as they cursed fate for their hardship and celebrated what they made out of it in the same conversation. Not the most cheerful topic but it felt appropriate after what happened today.
When they finished up, the moon was already in the sky and Percy made his way over to the hunters' camp, slowly feeling his own exhaustion kick in. When arriving at the hunt though, he was met with a goddess he did not expect to see there: his aunt Demeter. Artemis was next to her but he still had no clue what the goddess of agriculture of all things wanted with them. The serious look on her face told him that it was important though. Maybe he would get less rest than he'd hoped.
Yay, battle chapter done. I feel inadequate whenever I write these because I don't know if battles could ever go this way. That said, I do have a few things to explain because they won't be explained in the story (or I'm not sure if they'll be explained).
First, how did Artemis get injured? The way I picture it, the true form of immortals is just a mass of their power. As such when Artemis blasts Perses, both of them use some of their power. When they then weave their bodies back together (using their power ofc), that missing power causes some 'gaps' in their constructed bodies, namely wounds. In turn Perses needs to return to his physical form because he was weakened a lot and if he didn't do that, he wouldn't be able to anchor himself in the mortal world and would forcefully be pulled back into the pit by its gravity.
Second, why did Artemis have a potion from Hecate? Since almost everyone (on Olympus' side) owes Percy in one way or another, I just decided to make Hecate friendly towards Percy. Additionally she is Nyx's daughter so that lines up with their meeting going well.
All other questions, including why Perses was able to break the oath at all, will be answered in the next chapter. As always, I appreciate any feedback and I hope y'all like how this little mini arc ended. Bye!
-M
