Chapter Title: Camp Jupiter Encounters The Monster King
(A/N: This is the part you all likely have been waiting for ever since I had published the prior chapter and told you that I would do the chapters prior to "Luke II" first before doing this one. Well, wait no longer now, because the Monster King is finally back.)
(** "Godzilla — 1.0 Godzilla Suite I" from Godzilla Minus One starts playing up until 1:47. Repeat as many times as needed. **)
I don't know if there has ever been a time — even more so than the Battle of Manhattan — that I have been completely glad to have my "rival" as people tend to call Colton in regards to his relationship with me turn into what is probably the scariest thing to ever see on the battlefield as a demigod these days. Believe me, I'm not even kidding. Because right now, he's definitely the one person we've needed badly - I cannot overstate this at all, no words in my vocabulary can come even close to this.
It was also evident that just like last time, Colton's Monster King form had once again undergone some changes. The toenails at the ends of his feet, which were made of feet from the Sun Dragons that Medea used to pull her golden chariot, were now much to my shock made of water - murky, bloody red water at that - instead of the toenails from the Sun Dragons themselves, although this was just for the skin and you could still see the nails themselves at the ends. Two of his hands now had the bladed gauntlets on them instead of one, a sharp curved horn about 2 feet long and about one and a half feet tall had now grown out of each side of his head, and he had grown an extra set of arms which grew out of his body just a little bit underneath the uppermost set of arms, with his armor adjusted and modified to cover for this new set of body parts. He was also now about five feet taller than last time, and believe me, that new five feet seemed to make him look all the more like Godzilla as a result.
There was more to this too as well — much more, as usual. Something about the new set of arms seemed almost mechanical in a way, as if they were cybernetic enhancements or something. I don't really know how to explain it, but something about the way those arms moved didn't seem human at all. Part of the left side of his face, as black as it was, also seemed more.. metallic in a way. I don't know why, it just seemed to be. One of his eyes — blood red as they were — seemed to be just a shade darker in an unsettling way. Then, there was that one sword in one of his hands — of which almost all of them had either swords, the flaming trident from Manhattan, or as a new weapon that seemed so out of place, a halberd. But this sword — made of Celestial Bronze reinforced with Stygian Iron; handle shimmering with energy waves, like the gods themselves had poured some of their energy into it; lightning shooting out from the blade in mini arching bolts, and the way the shimmering waves seemed to extend to the Monster King himself — it almost seemed as if he was getting a power increase.
"They.. did it.." Hazel muttered.
"What..?" I said, turning to her.
"That's the sword of Jupiter, Argonaut, in.. its hand.." she said, and I did a double take. There was just no way.. there was no way that was Argonaut in Colton's hand. But it was — and I knew it.
The biggest shock of this of all for me was when I looked at where the marks of all of the gods, goddesses, and Titans plus Typhon that blessed him were. What hadn't been there before but was now on that part of armor was a glowing turquoise trident, the symbol of my father. Somehow, at some point along the quest to retrieve Argonaut, he had become an honorary son of Neptune. I don't know how he had even managed to achieve this, but right now, I don't think I had the time to even ask him. Believe me when I say, I was justified in having to do a double take because there was probably no way in the world that somehow, someway, Colton Reynolds was now my honorary sibling. But here it was, so as shocked as I was, it slowly sinked into me that this was the new reality. How Colton was taking it, I currently had no idea as to what that answer was — and with the way things were, likely it would be a long while before I could even ask him that answer.
But, as I looked once again at the armor where the glowing marks of the symbols of the various gods, goddesses, and Titans (+ Typhon) that had blessed him were, it was evidently obvious that Neptune wasn't the only god that Colton had managed to earn honorary parentage from. In addition to the obvious glowing turquoise trident now added onto his armor where it hadn't been before back in September, there was also the symbol of a mace with a human skull as the head on his armor. I had no clue which god or goddess that belonged to.
"No way.." Frank muttered, and I turned around. He was also staring at that same symbol, his eyes wide with shock, surprise, and fear all at the same time. "That's the sign of Orcus, the god of broken vows and eternal punishment."
I was stunned.
(** Music stops here **)
I glanced around at the other campers from Camp Jupiter, and believe me, shock and awe were only the tip of the iceberg as to the reactions they all were feeling. Many of them look scared out of their minds at seeing what Colton truly was, as if it brought bad memories of the past. Fear was present all over their faces, and only Lavinia's face looked anywhere close to something resembling intimidated yet not afraid at best, suggesting that somehow, she knew that he was the Monster King for a long while. I definitely had a lot of questions to ask now after realizing that, I knew that now for sure.
Either way, with the partial exception of Reyna, the others — the most scared among them being Octavian which felt satisfying — were downright seemingly pissing their pants at the revelation that Colton was the Monster King. It was a rather surprising thing to see — if I had to be honest. These were supposed to be hardened demigods and they all looked like scared kids in the face of who Colton really was.
Even the Amazons, from the glance I took at them now, also were terrified of seeing the Monster King, which speaks volumes if I had to be honest. The warriors that they were to be terrified of it — I couldn't help but wonder if there was more to the past of the Monster King than what I already knew, because there was a safe bet right here that there probably was more. I didn't have time to find out right now, of course.
Polybotes was just looking at the Monster King in absolute shock, and while the other monsters all had reactions on their faces that probably would have been worth describing, the expression on Polybotes' face said all that was needed to be said about how Gaea' forces were feeling at the sudden reappearance of the force of rage and power that had crushed Kronos and his forces alongside the rest of us at Manhattan last year.
His face had morphed into that of a man — or giant in this case — that looked partially like he had lost all hope, partially still determined to succeed though that seemed to be wavering within him judging by how parts of his body seemed to sag despite putting on a brave front.
"He's back.." Polybotes finally muttered. "Just like Kronis had said all those months ago." I couldn't help but feel very, very much confused at those words, to be honest. What on earth was he even talking about?
I didn't really pay that much attention to those words honestly, which seemed to have ended shortly after I stopped paying attention, since the sounds that were occurring now made it clear that something else was happening too.
(** "Godzilla — 1.0 Godzilla Suite II" starts playing from 0:45 onwards. **)
As if the presence of the Monster King himself wasn't enough, the suddenly starting and rapidly increasing amounts of rumbling, shouts, other kinds of noises and sudden flashes of fire, wind, water, darkness, earth, and light made it clear that it just wasn't him that had come to the battle.
"I've got a bad feeling about this.." muttered one of the monsters nearby. I couldn't really help but smile, because I had a very good feeling as to exactly who and what was about to make their presences felt here at Camp Jupiter. These monsters were about to find themselves on the receiving end of some highly dangerous beings, and once again, I was glad that for one of those rare moments as a demigod, it was the monsters having to deal with potentially death-causing situations rather than the other way around.
(** Music should be at 1:07 by now. Repeat as many times from that point forward as possible. **)
Seconds later, chaos broke loose in their ranks of Gaea's forces as one of the Earthborn was suddenly snatched up out of nowhere and carried off into the sky held up by its arms, screaming bloody murder with tears coming out of its eyes as it was taken away, held in the grip of a very familiar bird with wings.
As horrifying as that scene most likely was, I couldn't help but smile because of who had done this. Nice to see you too, Abyssling. The fact that Abyssling was here meant only one thing — that the rest of the Wardens couldn't be too far behind.
Sure enough, just seconds later, the five headed dog of darkness - Baku - also came in out of nowhere right in the middle of a large group of monsters, tearing monsters left and right to pieces as it ripped heads, limbs, and other body parts off of them while stomping and trampling others. Some of the monsters began to flee, trampling still more of their comrades - and possibly killing some of them via that in the process, but many more stayed and prepared themselves to try to resist what had just been unleashed upon them. Immediately right after, the other Wardens joined in on the onslaught, while waves of monsters loyal to Colton's cause began pouring in from above, below, down from the hills, or out from the river and lake itself. I turned back to Colton as the battle began to resume, noticing now that Cháris and one of the other heralds, the one of darkness, had joined him up on the aquaduct.
Cháris simply raised his hand and stretched outwards towards Reyna. His hand now glowed with fire, and Reyna's broken leg now did the same. As the chaos continued to unfold, as if like she had never broken it at all, Reyna was now able to stand up on her own two legs again — the spirits of the Romans rising up again as evidenced by the sound of the cheer that rang out from them.
"Di Immortales.." Frank stuttered. "He just healed her leg instantly.. what..?"
I was so confused now.
Polybotes defensively raised his trident, obviously scared. He knew full well that he was on the back foot in all of this, and it showed. He waved the trident in front of the group before him, albeit not in any sure of himself kind of way. "How..? How is this even possible..?" he stuttered. "Your vehicle was destroyed the day before! I heard of it myself! How are you here, Monster King?"
The answer that came from Colton's transformed form's mouth was.. rather cryptic to say the least. "Such are the fortunes of war, giant.. sometimes one side finds a hidden gem that allows for the defeat of the other.." he said, and what he meant, I had no idea at all. But one thing was for sure, with Polybotes thus occupied, I could at least help the others. So I turned and started dashing towards the city, hopefully so I could help Terminus deal with the problems there.
I passed Mrs. O'Leary during the renewed carnage that unfolded, the hellhound looking up curiously
with a gorgon wriggling helplessly in her mouth. It was evident to me that the expression she was trying to communicate was the following: do you need any help at all right now?
I didn't, of course.
"I'm fine!" I called out as I ran by. Mrs. O'Leary simply just went back to tearing apart the Gorgon, satisfied with that answer.
Asterios was nearby, and the enlarged Minotaur was just decapitating monsters left and right with a large axe, the ease of which he sent heads, limbs, and body parts flying left and right a rather gruesome sight to behold. "Take this as a warning to give to Gaea, you ungrateful brats.." he shouted, no doubt as a message for the monsters. "..mess with our king's friends and family and you will pay a very.. heavy price!"
In the midst of all the chaos, I could clearly see the same red-eyed dudes with weird hats and bladed weapons joining in on the action, carving through monsters with ease and sending more running out of terror. That was a general trend that I could observe running across that battlefield — something not unlike the Battle of Manhattan after the Monster King (or should I say, Colton) revealed himself to me and the others for the first time and his army slammed into Kronos' ranks. Monsters pouring in from the air, the river and lake, and from the hills and helping the Amazons, the Romans, and us fight off this army.
I jumped over a burning scorpion and ducked as Hannibal threw a Cyclops across my path. Out of the corner of my own eye, I could see Tyson pounding the Earthborn into the ground like a game of whack-a-mole. Ella was fluttering above him, dodging missiles and calling out advice: "The groin. The Earthborn's groin is sensitive."
SMASH!
A loud scream of pain emitted from the Earthborn.
"Good. Yes. Tyson found its groin."
"Percy needs help?" Tyson called.
"I'm good!"
Like seriously, I didn't need any help at all.
The sound of weapons clanging drew my attention off to the left, and as I turned, I could see that Colton and Polybotes now were going at it, with Polybotes trying desperately to find off Colton attacking with his many weapons — and Colton, for the lack of a better word, simply using his many weapons to just both toy with the Giant and also to wear him down. There was a bit of a peculiarity with this fight though, something that just seemed like so unlike Colton.
At some points, as an act of desperation, Polybotes would toss out some basilisks. When they spat fire at Colton, although it did not damage his Monster King form, it actually caused him to hesitate and take a couple of momentary steps back in a way that seemed almost as a result of fear, like from a phobia. It was so bizarre. It wouldn't last long, as the Heralds would destroy the Basilisks soon after and Colton would return to his normal self and close with Polybotes once more.
At this point, it was just Cháris and the dark herald supporting Colton. The others were helping manage different parts of his army, with the earth one commanding forces on the ground on the far side of the Little Tiber River, the wind one commanding forces in the air, the Light one commanding forces on the ground on our side of the Little Tiber, and the water one directing forces in the water.
Their leadership skills, I had to admit, were definitely well above whatever I could do — that much was true. Then again, moving rapidly across the battlefield, I didn't have much time to think on the matter.
In the distance, I could see Hazel and Arion galloping across the battlefield, cutting down centaurs and karpoi. One grain spirit yelled, "Wheat! I'll give you wheat!" but Arion stomped him into a pile of breakfast cereal.
"Onto the next one, Arion!" Hazel shouted and the horse responded in kind, moving on to stomp other monsters that had the misfortune of being caught under its hooves.
With Reyna's leg now healed, she and Hylla now joined forces, the Amazons finally having broken through to the Roman lines with the aid of forces from Colton's Monster King faction. With both forklift and pegasus they rode together, scattering the dark shades of fallen warriors. Frank turned himself into an elephant and stomped through some Cyclopes, and Dakota held the golden eagle high, blasting lightning at any monsters that dared to challenge the Fifth Cohort. It seemed to be working fine compared to the pitiful blast I made with it earlier.
In the distance, I could see what looked like a person wearing what looked like a mask and a suit just sabotaging some of the siege engines lobbing stuff at the city and backstabbing monsters that had the misfortune to have their backs turned towards him left and right with an odd sort of knife, dodging every single attack sent his way and shooting other monsters in the head with a revolver when the knife seemed not practical. I could also see this dude with glasses and a weird firing some rays onto people that seemed to instantly heal them, and another dude using a wrench while wearing a hard hat and overalls just smacking the wrench against what seemed to be an automated Gatling gun that spun and shot at anything and any monster that was in range. And then there was this guy that looked like a Roman emperor in Roman armor slaughtering monsters left and right.
It was, for lack of a better phrase, an absolute free-for-all. But even so, I had to do something about the machines that kept battering New Rome, because as much as that odd dude was sabotaging them, there was still plenty of them off to the dude's left that were still firing and Terminus couldn't handle all of them. So I stopped in my tracks, and said a quick prayer.
Dad, give me the power to wash their machines away.
I held my hand out towards them, and from behind me, the Little Tiber responded. I felt myself getting wet soon enough, and I looked up. An arching curve of water swept over me and came down on the area of siege engines I held my hand out towards, bringing a group of monsters loyal to Colton with them. The water pelted some of the siege engines until they had collapsed, and the monsters did the rest.
A cheer went up from the ranks of the Romans as they started shouting my name. "PERCY! PERCY!"
Luke, who was in my view, simply smiled at me before going back to carving through monsters with Backbiter II. I had to admit, it was nice having him fight on our side again.
"NOOOO!" Polybotes roared in anger, frustrated that his plans had come undone. I turned to look back at the fight. He was locking horns with Colton, but the Monster King just matched him move for move. Even being struck by poison water from Polybotes didn't seem to slow him down. It was then that I noticed that compared to the past fights I've seen Colton in, his style was much more savage, calculating, and aggressive this time around, as if he had changed a little bit. Either way, it was definitely becoming more than the Giant could handle.
"You may win this round.." Polybotes huffed. "But you can't stop what's happpening. Gaea will win in the end."
The two were locking blades once more as he said this. "I can promise you that.." he said, hissing as he did so as if to taunt Colton, to break him.
(** Music now switches to "Godzilla Save The Earth Melee — Godzilla March". Repeat as many times as needed. **)
A second later, the Giant was now clutching his nuts in pain, dropping his trident, as the Monster King had now kicked him in the groin and hard at that. A second later, Polybotes was howling in even more pain as Colton in his Monster King form had shot both fire from his eyes, and a blood red, pulsing laser from his mouth, which combined to form an attack that sent Polybotes down on his back and also causing him pain from burn damage.
From what I could say, it was safe to say that Colton had just given him a nasty second-degree burn. I could hear the wincing from here, like ouch.
You could hear the screams of pain from Polybotes as the Monster King stood only a few yards away from him. Then, he spoke and you could tell instantly that even though Colton hadn't made much of a sound while Polybotes was screaming from the burns, it was because inside he was taking a very twisted kind of satisfaction — albeit one that for the guy in question was not surprising even for me — over it.
"Listen here, you little shit.." he started, putting up both Argonaut and the sword of the Monster King back in the sheaths he had on his back for them. "Don't you fucking ever dare threaten my family or my precious Kayla — as long as my beloved girlfriend still lives, that's all the motivation I need to rip you and every single giant Gaea sends at us to pieces with my bare hands!"
You could feel the malice, the rage, and the psychotic anger in his voice. It was intimidating to listen to — and honestly, it was probably bound to give someone nightmares after the fact just from listening to it. He wasn't mincing words like a guy who was all talk and no action would, not at all.
He now walked over towards one of the statues near the city that was closest to him, and with a great big heave, he yanked it out of the ground. "HEY! HEY!" Terminus bellowed. "PUT THAT DOWN AT ONCE!"
Polybotes was trying to get back on his feet as Terminus said that, but the Monster King just shot the god a very angry glare that seemed to say 'shut up or I'll beat the shit out of you too' and the god simply said no more. With that done, Colton walked back over to Polybotes who was still trying to get up off the ground, and pressed his foot on the giant's back, sending him back down on the ground on his face.
The giant frantically squirmed underneath the Monster King's foot, the muffled screams for mercy being plainly evident. What followed next was likely one of the coldest lines I have ever heard.
"Oh.. so you want mercy now..?" Colton said. "..okay, I'll grant your request.. a quick beating and trip back to Tartarus will suffice then."
Then, he started beating the back of Polybotes' head in with the statue still in his hand — or one of his hands, I should say. The sounds of flesh and bone being smashed in by the weight of the statue being used as a club can be imagined to say the least about how gruesome it was. Pretty much, everyone on the battlefield had stopped to watch the violent scene. I lost track of how many times Colton smashed the statue against Polybotes' head — 40, 50 times, I have no clue.. but it was enough that part of bones and part of Polybotes' brain came out of his head, a sight that would make many just puke at it and for good reason.
It was, for lack of a better word, just pure overkill. No, that could exactly describe what I was watching — just pure overkill. I don't think I had ever seen Colton be so savage, so vicious, and so psychotic than at any other point in the time that I had known him — so it was safe to say that I definitely felt a little horrified by this.
Either way, by the time it was over and Colton calmly just cleaned off the statue and just put it back in its place as if nothing ever happened, Polybotes did not get up off of the ground. He was finished, and he knew it. He put up no resistance as he quietly just disappeared back to Tartarus to reform. The other monsters of his army, shaken by the death of their leader, now lost it.
"RUN! GET AWAY FROM HERE!" one shouted and they all just ran like cowards the next moment that passed. It was a mad dash, and while some of Colton's monsters followed, the rest just stayed in place — no doubt blown away by the incredible savagery that their leader had just inflicted on the enemy commander.
There was now a sudden flash of light causing me to cover my eyes, and when it was gone and I looked to where the Monster King had stood, he was gone.. and there was Colton just gracefully descending from above to the ground in a slow fashion as if he was slowed by magic, which he likely was. From the way his body looked as if he was sleeping with his legs spread a little bit apart, it was obvious that he had passed out.
"We did it.. we won.." Hazel muttered, and that look of victory started to appear on everyone's faces.. well, all except Octavian that is. He just glared at Colton's body with what seemed like jealousy and envy, but I wasn't sure. As Reyna started sprinting over towards his body as he touched down on the ground, one thing was for certain now.
Luke, Michael, Colton, and I had a lot of explaining to do for the other Romans.
(A/N: And yeah, there's the fight for Camp Jupiter there. Hopefully this was worth the wait — and yeah, most likely a lot more of a brutal end for Polybotes than Percy gave him canonically. Either way, Colton's secret is out of the bag and the Romans are going to need an explaination. So hope you enjoyed and see you in the next chapter!)