The Male Hunter | Olympus' Traitor #1

Chapter 47: Peace at Last

Percy's companions could only watch helplessly as the battle continued. Then, suddenly, a horde of monsters began emerging from the pit in the floor as hellhounds melted out of the shadows in the corners of the room. "He brought reinforcements!" Ethan announced.

"No Styx Sherlock!" Jacob replied. The group then sprung into action in order to ensure that they, and Percy, weren't killed. Some of them for a second time.

Percy risked a glance at his friends as he fought Ixion, and what he saw surprised him. It was one of the few times when Jacob and Hannah demonstrated why they were exponentially more powerful when they combined their powers. Pure light and pure darkness worked in tandem, an unlikely pair that somehow worked. Shadows and light swirled around the couple, and they would shoot intertwining beams of it at individual monsters to vaporize them on contact. This made Percy redouble his efforts, he knew they could only do this for a couple minutes, max.

"You cannot defeat me!" Ixion declared as the two fought. "Lord Tartarus himself blessed me as The Lord of the Pit, every second we spend fighting I grow stronger!"

The last two lines of the prophecy suddenly started echoing in Percy's head. One last foe the Hero must face, For the Lord of the Pit he must erase. Ixion had to be defeated, but how? If what he said was true, the king would only grow stronger while Percy tired. Besides, how did one 'erase' an ancient king who escaped from Tartarus?

Suddenly, Percy felt a heavy force collide with his chest. His thoughts had distracted him, and King Ixion had capitalized on that fact. As he strode forward Percy tried to scramble backwards, but a sharp pain in his chest prevented him from moving too quickly. some of his ribs were cracked, if not broken. Chuckling, he strode forward, sword raised for the killing stroke. However, before he could bands of light and shadow wrapped themselves around Ixion, restraining him. "Finish him," Jacob gasped, face red and sweat beading down it. Hannah looked in a similar condition as it took all their effort to use their power like this. "We can't hold him for long."

Thalia rushed over, along with Zoë, and together they helped Percy to his feet. Picking up Riptide from where he had dropped it, Percy strode over to Ixion. He went to behead the delusional king, but before he could Zoë interrupted. "Wait!" she cried. "That will not work."

Percy stopped in his tracks. "Then what will?"

Zoë thought for a moment. "My mother once told me a tale of a vision she did see," she explained. "I believe that she saw thee and this moment."

"Well, got on with it!" Thalia interrupted.

Zoë rolled her eyes. "Thou must learn patience. Anywho, she did tell me that the great darkness that threatened our world could only be defeated by a Hero with a pure heart full of the light of the moon and a Hero wielding the power of the sun."

Percy stepped back. "That must mean you, since you were the Hunt's lieutenant for thousands of years, and Jacob."

"No," Zoë said with a shake of her head. "Thou art the son of M'Lady, my mother saw thee."

"She's right," Thalia said as she placed a hand on Percy's shoulder. "You must do it. Reach inside yourself, find the power that Artemis gave you."

"And please hurry, I can feel myself slipping!" Hannah grunted out from across the room.

Closing his eyes, Percy searched for the familiar tug in his gut that he felt whenever he used his powers. After a few moments he found it, and tugged harder than he ever had before. Upon opening his eyes he found that everything had taken on a silver tinge and that Riptide glowed silver. Later he would find out that his whole body was giving off a silver aura and that his eyes had turned into pure silver orbs. As he stalked towards Ixion once more the shadows holding him dissipated, glancing over he could see that Hannah had finally collapsed and fallen unconscious. Luckily, Luke had been there to catch her. Ixion made a lunge, but before he could make it even a few inches the yellow-golden bands surrounding him expanded to cover his whole body, freezing him place once again. Taking the last step forwards Percy raised his sword once again. "This is for all the lives you have caused to be lost," he declared before swinging.