Heart Pierced - Kayla Knowles (1)

XLVI. The Monster Queen Makes Her Debut

Alternative Chapter Title: Secrets And Files, Part Three; Beginning Of The Second Giant War Arc, Part Five

If there were two things that Percy Jackson hadn't expected to occur during his time at Camp Half Blood, he would definitely say one of them was basically Colton Reynolds in a nutshell. That was for multiple reasons right now, with some of those reasons also happening to involve the daughter of the God whose oracle was inside his friend Rachel Elizabeth Dare now, that daughter being the one and only Kayla Knowles. The second — well, right now, as he and Annabeth plus the other demigods who had hurried up from the temple back to camp at the sound of Porphyrion's voice, could only gaze in awe and fear at the sight that stood on the clear field on the Atlantic side of Half Blood Hill between them and the Giants.

Two beings, quite unlike anything he had ever seen before, stood in front of them. One of them was familiar, for Colton had transformed into the Monster King again, but that was the limit of the familiarity with the two epically massive beings that now stood facing the three Giants.

Unknown to all but a few who knew, all of those blessings that Colton and Kayla had received had massively up the power of the forms that they could assume, and the three giants before them could only gawk, much like the demigods that now looked like ants in relative comparison to what two of their own had transformed, at what had resulted from Colton and Kayla's transformation.

Colton's Monster King form this time around had.. definitely changed a major bit.

No.. scratch that, Percy thought. That was definitely an understatement right now. An absolutely massive understatement at that.

For many that were there, they probably would have agreed with Percy's thoughts on this, because saying that Colton's Monster King had just changed a major bit would probably be a major contender for the understatement of the year - in the year 2009 at that. Scratch that, it would win as the understatement of the year hands-down in the eyes of many that gazed upon the Monster King right now. No doubt about it in their own opinions.

It was even taller now at 50 feet tall this time, 10 feet higher than the Giants, and its armor parts had lengthened considerably to provide the same amount of coverage as they had did when Colton as the Monster King was only fifteen feet tall last time when he fought against Kronos' army. His hair this time is on fire, literally this time.. even visible with the hair that went under the edges of his crown, though it seems to be more of an aesthetic kind of purple flame his hair was engulfed in right now, since it did not seem to be doing any damage to him. His twin gauntlet blades projecting off of the piece of armor on his left wrist and hand had upgraded too, with now three blades instead of two there — a fitting addition given that instead of it being on his only left wrist and hand, that piece of armor was now on one of three left wrists and hands.

Because of his increase in height, the Monster King now has six arms coming out of his armor now, two projecting off the back of his shoulders and four from the normal location on the shoulder, two for each side of him. Only one of them had the gauntlet with the blades on it now. Each one of the six hands the Monster King now had each carried a sword as well, with them mostly enlarged Greek versions with the sixth one being the blade given to Colton by Typhon, also in an enlarged state. The trident that it had used during the Battle of Manhattan was nowhere to be seen.

That wasn't all to it, however. Not even close. At various points along the chest armor, through green mist, snarling scary heads of monsters rise from the armor as if they had come straight from its horrific waist. The symbols of the various gods, goddesses, and Titans that had blessed him and Kayla appear engraved in their particular colors on his armor, with all of the marks glowing as well. This was in stark contrast to the bare grey appearance his armor had been in during Colton's first run as the Monster King in Manhattan, though the few scratches and dents that Pallas and Koios had given him during their fight were also still visible. The fingers of his multiple hands are all claws now, with sharp, pointed tips that somehow rest comfortably around the handles of the swords these hands now hold.