April 26th.
3 years 6 months after Banishment
Tartarus, Enemy Camp
Day of War
««•••»»
Perseus stood just at the borderline of the enemy camp as he throughly assessed the base. No sounds could be heard as he held his hand up for silence from his army that stood behind him. The enemy were resting. Trying to get their energy up for when they attempted an attack on his army. But that would never come to pass, because right now, himself and his team of monsters and undead soldiers stood outside, ready to strike.
The General turned to face his legion. Each of them had a weapon at the ready, waiting for the signal from their leader.
"Formate position Zeta. Swordsmen stand down. Ten of you will come with me to plant the bombs. When we return, we fire."
Before his eyes, he watched his army as they separated into different groups and got into rows horizontal lines, facing the enemy camp. The lines of soldiers in each section held up shields to form a large wall. First line stood on one knee as they held up the shield, second line stood behind the first with their backs slightly crouched, holding up theirs and the third line stood tall with their shields up above their heads.
Behind the shield wall, stood the fireteams. Each section used a different weapon. The first used bows, the second used throwing spears and the third used firearms.
The swordsmen stood at the side. Ten of them stood next to Perseus as he prepared to plant the bombs in enemy tents.
He looked sternly at each of them before he spoke.
"Go in silently and plant the bombs in the enemy tents. If anyone stirs, kill them immediately. Make sure the kill is quiet. I will not tolerate any compromises. This is your life you are fighting with. If you fuck this up, you die. Prepare yourselves. One soldier in each tent. No more. Do you understand?"
Each soldier saluted solemnly at their commander. He gave them a signal and they moved towards the box that held the bombs. When they regrouped, every one of the ten soldiers held an explosive in their hands. Their General pointed a finger, and they entered the base. He moved behind them with his Rifle at the ready, covering his soldiers. He watched as they separated one by one into a tent a proceeded to plant the bombs. It was approximately 5 minutes before they emerged.
"We have 15 seconds. Move! Move! Move!" He whisper-yelled to them. They moved swiftly to evacuate the premises. Just as they recrossed the border, the first explosion went off.
Immediately, enemy forces began to file out of their tents, dazed from sleep, but looked ready to defend.
"Legion! Open Fire!" The Commander yelled. He found a spot between Nyx and Hemera, who were already blasting at adversaries. He got on one knee, aiming his weapon at the enemies, and began spraying bullets into the crowd of tangos, never missing a target.
The sound of gunfire filled the air, exhilarating the young demi-primordial. Monsters of both armies fell at the hands of the other.
"Swordsmen! Advance!" He ordered.
The soldiers ran into battle and immediately began impaling enemies. He spotted the wine god, Dionysus in the mix of his men. Perseus smirked. He had agreed to let the sorry bitch live, only if he joined his legion.
There was a sudden rumbling. The floor trembled and there was a bright yellow burst of light. Perseus did not look away, unlike everyone else. He focused his eyes to where the light was sourced and zoomed his vision.
What he saw, was a man in full golden, light battle armor. He stood at 20 feet tall and wielded a shining silver sword with a golden hilt. This was Hyperion.
Perseus readied himself instantly. He dropped the Assault Rifle and twisted the ring on his left hand, making his twin Stygian blades materialize in his hands. He looked at both of the goddesses beside him.
"Hyperion is here." He told the primordial women. "Hold off the monsters. That Titan needs to go. Now."
The fucked up thing about this was that unlike his comrade, Perses, Hyperion moved bristly. This would not be an easy fight for Perseus. Hyperion was among the greatest Titan fighters, but the Demi-primordial would stop at nothing to defeat his opponent.
Without taking a second more to think, Perseus ran straight towards the Titan of the East.
««•••»»
Monsters of the opposing forces tried to cease Perseus's advance, against their initial thoughts. This would prove to be their mistake as the General brought his blades down and across in a diagonal arch, slicing a monster in half. He saw his old enemy, the Minotaur, approaching him, but for Perseus, this was no the time for games. He launched himself forward, his feet raising above the ground as he brought his right knee up, hitting the beast precisely in the nose. The Minotaur stumbled and fell onto its back. Perseus wasted no time and plunged a blade into its heart, not bothering to stick around to see it burst into dust.
He stabbed a telkhine through the skull and rolled to the left, avoiding the strike of a Hyperborean giant. He shot fire at the ice giant and instantly melted it into ice cubes.
He was everywhere he needed to be at all the right times. He fought like the demon he was, killing anything within his reach. He plunged his swords into the ground, and around him, the earth shook violently. He called on his blessings and out of the already shaking floor green flames erupted.
Flames engulfed the bodies of enemies everywhere. His red eyes glowed with adrenaline. He took off into a full sprint, heading straight for the Titan. Just when he was a few meters away, he leapt, using the shadows of the pit to push him upwards.
Hyperion could not see him as Perseus's blades ripped through the flesh of his neck, puncturing the trachea. The light Titan bellowed in agony. Hyperion searched for the point in which he felt the pain sourcing and grabbed Perseus, slamming him viciously into the ground, creating a large crater.
Perseus shouted in pain— something that he hadn't done in so long that the feeling felt foreign and strange. It was excruciating and Perseus thought that he had definitely broken some ribs.
Hyperion brought his sword down, and Perseus just barely had enough time to roll to the left, avoiding being impaled.
Hyperion struck with the flat of his blade, simultaneously bringing his foot down to crush Perseus, but with the quickness the Titan moved with, Perseus knew that he would only be able to stop one of the two attacks.
He batted the silver sword away with a powerful blow, sending it meters from its wielder, but by the time he'd made the move, Hyperion was already upon him. Perseus couldn't dodge or evade, or he would risk being squashed in the process.
He was down to his last option.
As the foot stood a few inches away from Perseus's head, the General raised his arms up, pushing against the force that was Hyperion's foot.
The pain was agonizing. He could feel himself collapsing, but he used every bit of strength and will power to keep himself stable and alive. It reminded him of the time that he held the weight of the sky to save Artemis, and there was a sudden burst of bitterness within him. That ungrateful, man hating, god, did not deserve to be saved by him. The rage burned deeper with every second. He was dripping with sweat.
Perseus could feel something cracking, but it wasn't the feeling of a breaking bone. It was a sensation that he had only experienced twice before.
It was the feeling of the crystal ball slowly shattering.
The anchor that kept him half mortal was breaking.
All he had to do, was push a little farther, and there was only one way that he could do that in his current situation.
Only one thing he needed to do.
He needed to give in.
He let himself release the burdened weight and allowed himself to be squashed under the boot of Hyperion,
His vision tunneled inwardly.
««•••»»
The voice that spoke to him reminded him of Hades.
It was gravelly and dry, like the speaker hadn't had a drink of water in decades. It wasn't evil, however it radiated dark power. Like the kind he'd felt on Olympus before he jumped.
You have lived as a demigod, Perseus.
But you will die as a god.
He saw himself slaying creatures ruthlessly, ramming a sharp bone into the side of a hellhound. He saw himself hammering away, forging the swords that he used to this day. He saw the look on his face the first time he noticed the tattoo adorning his chiseled torso.
After 21 years of endless suffering.
He saw himself in a deep meditation, training the powers that he had received from the three gods.
You will become all that you are meant to be.
He saw himself burning the camp of a small monster army, after killing any and everything that moved inside.
He saw him ripping through a skeletal army as they pleaded for mercy. He saw the moment his eyes turned from sea green to demonic red. It was after he'd burned the blood out of the curse spirits. He saw himself killing an empousa, after promising to spare its life in return for information. He saw himself burning a dagger through Dionysus's flesh and he saw himself as the Titan of Destruction fell at his hands.
But out of everything, he saw something that he had never before witnessed.
He saw Zeus, stabbing a 17 year old demigod, as the body Dionysus laid lifeless in the grass.
The image changed and he saw the king of Olympus sneaking into his cabin. He saw himself laying with Annabeth, sleeping. Zeus took the pen off of the nightstand and uncapped it. He walked out of the room and back to the body of the dead Wine God. He removed the silver blade out of Dionysus's heart, and placed Riptide into the wound. He waved his hand once and disposed of the demigod he killed and the old sword.
This was the reason that he had gotten thrown into the pit. It was because Zeus had framed him for a crime that he hadn't committed.
The rage within Perseus boiled. Hotter than anything that he had ever felt before.
There was something breaking, but it wasn't glass. It was something animalistic within him that slammed against his inner core, begging to be released from its internal hold. It wanted to break free and assist Perseus in inflicting carnage.
He felt his body plummet down into what seemed like an endless void, until he saw a white light.
Inside the light, were the faces of two children. They could not have been older than 3 years old. The boy had stormy gray eyes and jet black hair. Just like his. And the girl had sea green eyes and blonde hair. They were the most beautiful children that he had ever seen. The rage within him depleted in their presence, as if they were the secrets to controlling his anger. He felt a need to be in their lives— a bond so strong that it physically hurt, but as to why he felt that way, he could not tell you. It was like they were his. He stretched out to touch the light, but a force field blew his body backwards.
You will not perish Perseus. The voice said to him.
You will live as more than a demigod.
You will live as the perfect warrior.
He felt something wrap around him and pull him upwards.
In battle, you will become death itself.
The visions shut off.
««•••»»
Unfamiliar strength pulsed through his veins when he regained consciousness.
The Titan's foot still stood in its place on Perseus's back, pushing down to squash the General of Night's Army. He honestly didn't understand how Hyperion hadn't crushed him yet, but he wasn't complaining.
His eyes snapped open, a new golden tint lightly coating the red irises.
He understood what he had done.
He had let go of his mortality.
It sounded stupid when you said it out loud, but it was true.
He was a God.
The vision of Zeus framing him swarmed his memory.
The rage that had retreated in the presence of the two children began to flare.
He began to push upwards, against the force of the Titan's foot.
Slowly, he got onto one knee, the weight still burdening on his back.
With a primal roar, he pushed up, with every last drop of strength that his body could muster. The Titan stumbled back, tripping over the body of a dead cyclops.
Perseus used the opportunity as one to roll out of danger's way, taking advantage of the short time window to crack his tensed and stiff bones. He summoned his blades and instantly, they cushioned themselves in his palms. He tightened the grip around the black swords and took off into a full sprint, but this time, he would make no mistakes. Hyperion would fall. And Perseus, would claim his soul.
««•••»»
As he got near the Titan, he did not leap. Instead, he shadow traveled himself to behind Hyperion, shoving one blade through his calf bone.
The East Titan wailed and his knee buckled. He swung his silver and gold sword wildly in an attempt to damage Perseus, but his strikes were shameful and in vain.
Perseus attacked him relentlessly, and clearly Hyperion was weakening. The General brought his blades across and swung horizontally, leaving a deep gash in the leg of the Titan. He could see Hyperion's fibula bone. He slashed again, in the same area. There was a resounding crack as the leg was cut off completely.
Perseus grinned. He retreated his long blades and twisted the ring on his right hand. He stabbed into the already gushing wound and ripped through the insides, resulting in a painful cry from Hyperion.
Perseus began to climb the body of the Titan using his knives. It was like rock climbing honestly— he sank the blades deep into the flesh and used it to pull himself up. Hyperion let out a blast of light, but Perseus wouldn't be dazed by the tactic. As he reached the shoulder of his opponent's sword hand, he drove the knives into the socket joint, pushing the two blades away from the other and dislocating the Titan's collarbone from his arm. When Perseus heard his combatant scream like a distressed hyena, he knew that he was successful in his objective.
Hyperion's entire arm hung loosely from his body, only holding on by a single piece of thin outer flesh, leaving him howling in misery and near defenseless.
Perseus ran up the Titan's neck, but unlike what he'd done with Perses, he jumped off Hyperion's body. Perseus held his weapons close as he willed the shadows to push him forcefully into Hyperion's chest.
***
Hyperion didn't know how, but from the moment Perseus made contact with the golden armor, he shot directly through the solid breastplate like a bullet through water, and there was an abrupt spike of horrendous pain that spread through his body. When he looked down, there was a wide gaping hole through his abdominal region. He could see his remaining intestines hanging and swaying through the lethal gap, most of the organs for that area gone.
Hyperion doubted that the wound was treatable; not that he thought he'd ever get the chance to given his circumstances, but it definitely set something in stone for him. He wasn't going make it out of this battle alive, whether he was able to kill Perseus or not.
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