Percy hadn't been in the arena for long before the immortal campers entered, apparently intending to start then. He sighed and turned to them. "Weapons out," he said before they had time to speak, ignoring the fact that Darren was with them, and by the look of it all the other children of the Big Three in camp. "Those of you that have any Titan weapons, I want you to use them." He turned his attention to Oceanus' sword and concentrated, knowing that the weapons of the Titans could change. The sword seamlessly changed into a silver scythe, the blade gleaming and reflecting the sunlight. The edges of the blade weren't sharp because Percy knew it wouldn't be a good idea to go hacking off limbs, but that didn't mean he'd be going easy.
Percy looked up at the demigods to see that they were all staring at the scythe with wide eyes. "Alright, stop staring. It's rude," he said calmly. "Now, how many of you have fought against someone with a scythe before?"
The demigods that had come down to Tartarus raised their hands, but none of the others did. Percy nodded – it was what he was expecting. "Any guesses as to how to fight against a scythe-wielder?" Annabeth kept her hand up, along with Clarisse, Nico and Thalia. "The four who fought against the Titans three centuries ago. Of course," Percy nodded. "Any more of you?"
Jason frowned slightly. "You've got to get past the blade," he announced.
Percy nodded. "That's usually a good start, but the Titans can change their weapons when they want. King could easily change it to a dagger and stab you when you're not expecting it. Anyone else?"
"Defend and wait for an opening," Frank said. "Get past the blade and inside their guard, then get them out of action with a quick attack."
Percy grinned. "Good. Like Annabeth did down in Tartarus. King's weak point is his left armpit. It's the effect from Luke's Achilles' Curse. Hit him there and he'll be down. It's a lot more effective than stabbing him in the heart or another organ. Trust me, I know. Like all men, he also has that famous weak spot between his legs, and stabbing that area will get him livid and no longer holding back. Though it's also very funny to see his reaction, I don't recommend going for that area unless you're sure reinforcements will be coming in seconds."
Thalia snickered. "Wait, you've stabbed him there before?"
"Obviously," Percy said, his mouth twitching slightly, "and his reaction was priceless. But that's not my point. With all Titans you have to go for the immediate killing or crippling blows. If they manage to hit you, they'll probably break a bone, and you really don't want that to happen. Most of their weapons have special abilities. King's scythe causes immense pain. Oceanus' sword can sometimes freeze a limb or make it numb. Perses' greatsword can release a blast of energy that destroys anything it touches – as those of you that came down to Tartarus should remember Iapetus used it to collapse the entire building where I was... held. It's almost like a laser beam. Hyperion's sword can light itself on fire with a thought. Koios' sword allows the wielder to feeltheir opponent's weak spots. Lelantos' spear will always hit the target when it's thrown, and Tethys' sword is like Oceanus'," he listed the weapons that the half-bloods currently had in their possession, and the demigods grinned at their respective weapons.
"So who wants to have a go first?" Percy asked as he lifted up the silver scythe, feeling slightly queasy at the similarities to Kronos' scythe.
"I will," Clarisse said as she stepped forward after realising that no one else was going to want to go first.
Percy nodded. "Use Lelantos' spear," he said.
Clarisse summoned the spear to her hand, feeling it burn her slightly, but the pain was bearable. "Just don't beat me too easily in front of them all, Prissy."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Gonna ask King that?"
Clarisse scowled at him. "No, but you're not King."
Percy smiled slightly and the ground rumbled as the earth slipped up around his leg, leaving gleaming gold armour in its wake. The sound of metal sliding on metal echoed around the arena, and then Percy was standing wearing armour that was an exact copy of Kronos'. "Still not King? I would change my eye colour to gold, but I really don't want to."
Clarisse swallowed. "That looks..."
Percy flinched. "Can we get this over and done with?" He snapped.
Clarisse took a breath and nodded. "Pretending you're King's a lot easier now," she murmured.
"Come at me, child of war," Percy said, deepening his voice slightly and making an active effort to make it smoother.
Clarisse raised Lelantos' spear and ran at him, rapidly closing the distance as Percy idly swung the scythe in front of him. Clarisse slashed with the edges of the spear and Percy leaned a few inches to the side, barely avoiding the blow as he swept down with the scythe and knocked her feet out from under her. The scythe shifted into a sword and he rested the point on the base of her throat.
"Dead," Percy said calmly as he withdrew the weapon and helped her up. "You can't just run into battle against him waving your weapon like a lunatic," he said to Clarisse and the other demigods. "Otherwise you'd be taken down before you even swing the weapon. You've got to be patient and wait for him to attack first, because otherwise you're already dead." Percy paused as he scanned the demigods, and his eyes landed on Annabeth. "Your turn, Annabeth."
Annabeth unsheathed her drakon bone sword and walked so she was a dozen or so feet away from Percy. "Would this be like fighting Kronos?"
Percy raised an eyebrow, deciding to not mention how she'd said his name. "Not completely," he admitted, "he's a lot faster than me, but otherwise yes."
"Faster than you?" Clarisse exclaimed incredulously.
Percy shrugged. "Well, yeah. He does control time at the lift of a finger."
Annabeth attacked whilst Percy was distracted, leaping towards him with her sword swinging through the air. It was a good attack, but Percy easily blocked it. "Faster," he growled, "you're dead if you're that slow."
Annabeth's jaw locked and she backed away, making sure that she was fast and on the balls of her feet. Percy grinned slightly as he watched her, noting that her guard was up at all times and she never stayed in the same spot for more than half a second. He let out a breath and took a step towards her. "I'm Lord Kronos," he announced as a reminder, ignoring the way the temperature dropped. "What will you do?" And he lunged towards her, blurring as he sped himself up, and Annabeth instinctively blocked the attack.
"I'll kill you," Annabeth smiled, and Percy nodded, swiping the scythe back and around, but Annabeth ducked.
"Good," Percy grinned. "But a little faster," and he moved around Annabeth in a split second, the air splitting beneath the swing of his scythe. Annabeth's eyes widened and she rolled to the side, but Percy swept out with his leg and knocked her over, cracking the ground beside her head with the scythe. "Dead," he said quietly.
Annabeth swallowed and took his offered hand, letting him pull her to her feet. "Too slow?"
Percy nodded. "And you weren't expecting me to do that. King will easily be able to pick up on that, and he'll do exactly what you're not expecting." He looked back at the demigods. "Jason? Thalia? You two want a turn?"
The children of Zeus nodded and made their way forward as Annabeth retrieved her sword. "The two of us at once?" Thalia asked.
Percy shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"
Jason grinned. "I don't think we could beat him together anyway, Thals."
"You're never gonna know unless you try," Percy grinned, feeling an urge to attack them and get it over with, though he wasn't exactly sure what 'over with' would mean.
He got his answer when the scythe he was holding shuddered in his grip and shimmered to a golden colour. "Oh, that's not good," he mumbled, inwardly cursing.
He felt a heavy presence press against his mind, and the blood drained from his face. "Percy?" Nico asked worriedly, his eyes flickering from the now golden scythe to Percy's eyes. "Are you alright?"
Percy shut his eyes. "Get away," he said as he struggled to raise a barrier between his mind and the invading one. He could already sense the other's thoughts – he could feel his urge to maim and kill.
"Percy?" Jason asked, backing away slightly.
Percy's eyes snapped open, and Jason immediately raised his sword when he saw the immortal's eyes. They were solid gold. "Grandfather," Jason growled, avoiding saying the Titan's name.
Percy growled as he fought against the Titan's influence. "My body. My mind," he snarled angrily, letting his anger rush through his body, and for a brief moment Kronos recoiled, allowing Percy to regain control before he came back with the force of a truck slamming into Percy's mind again.
Percy clenched his jaw and his gaze landed on the weapon in his hand. It was glowing faintly gold, and he realised that Kronos was using it to anchor his essence. Percy didn't hesitate to throw the scythe away, not waiting to watch it clatter against the wall as he shoved Kronos from his mind. Percy took several deep breaths to steady his breathing, and then he looked at the wide-eyed demigods in front of him.
"No one says his name again," Percy said sharply, and then added as an afterthought, "and no one tells the gods."
"You - your eyes were gold," Darren stuttered.
Percy nodded, turning his attention to the now silver sword that was lying on the ground. It shimmered with waves like the sea, almost like a living representation of the oceans around the world. Against his will, something that Kronos had told him long ago came to mind. "A natural disaster. A force of nature. That's what you are. You're a tsunami, Perseus, and tsunamis can lay waste to entire civilisations."
"Tsunami," Percy murmured, still staring at the silver sword.
"Uh... Percy?" Jason asked nervously. "Are you alright?"
Percy nodded as he held his hand out for the sword and it shot into his grip. "Yeah. I am now, thanks."
"How did that happen?" Darren asked worriedly. "The King thing, I mean. Not the sword thing."
Percy smiled slightly. "I'd guess he found an anchor in the scythe. You know, because it was gold and pretty much a complete copy of his? And I've been in his presence so much the last few centuries that I'd bet he could sense me from thousands of miles away." He looked down at the sword in his hand, seeing the flat of the blade shimmer slightly and the word 'Tsunami' appeared engraved down the middle. "Awesome," he murmured.
"It's awesome that King can sense your presence?" Darren asked incredulously.
Percy frowned. "No. Why'd that be awesome?"
"But you just said..."
"I was talking about the name of this sword," Percy said as he turned the blade to showthem its new name.
"Okay, that's pretty cool," Leo admitted.
Percy nodded and thoughtfully rotated the blade around his wrist, and then it shimmered back into the scythe. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Percy?" Annabeth asked worriedly, her expression showing the immense concern she still had for his welfare, despite him breaking up with her. Percy felt oddly touched.
"Nope," Percy grinned, "but relax. I'm prepared now. It won't happen again."
"I think I'm beginning to understand what Iapetus meant when he said you'd go insane," Nico mumbled.
Percy scowled at him. "Nico has just volunteered you all for a fight. Weapons out."
Jason frowned. "You know what? I'm agreeing with Nico."
"Then all of you can fight me twice. So after I beat your arses into the ground you'll have to get up and fight again, but with bruises that feel like Tartarus," Percy growled. "And this time I'll not be holding back."
"What?" Clarisse and Annabeth demanded, but Percy just grinned.
"Come on, godlings," Percy smirked. "Come taste the power of the Sea... I usually say that to the Titans," he laughed.
"He's cockier," Hazel murmured, and Frank nodded in agreement.
"Definitely," the son of Mars muttered.
"Let's knock him down a peg," Clarisse growled and charged forward, forgetting the first thing Percy had told them – don't charge. The other demigods quickly followed her – all of the immortal campers, which was about two for each cabin in camp.
It took Percy less than five minutes to beat them all by either knocking them out or disarming them. He rolled his eyes as he took in their groaning forms. "All of you, get up. One more bout, then you're all free to go and nurse your injuries. Just remember to be back here tomorrow two hours after lunch."
Leo groaned. "Can't I stay here? It's comfy."
Percy rolled his eyes. "You all forgot that you've got to wait for King to attack first. Forget it, and you're dead, so remember it. On your feet." The demigods muttered not so subtle curses towards Percy as they clambered to their feet and readied themselves for the next go.
Kronos' jaw clenched as Perseus managed to repel his influence. The demigod was stronger than he'd expected. He tapped the blade of his scythe thoughtfully before standing from his temporary throne – which was really just a chunk of rock crafted to look like a throne – and strode to the edge of the large outcropping. Below him stretching across the landscape of Tartarus marched an army.
Thousands of monsters strong, and it was the largest army Kronos had managed to raise in a long time. He turned back to face Hyperion. "Has the message been sent?"
Hyperion dipped his head in a small nod. "Yes, my lord. The squadron of harpies have reached the Fortress and Atlas is aware of our movements."
"And my palace?" Kronos demanded.
"He says that at the rate it is rising we'll reach it only hours after it's complete," Hyperion reported.
"And our two wayward brothers?"
"Willing to cooperate, after your... message to them," Hyperion said, a savage smirk forming on his face.
"Good," Kronos murmured. "Let's hope they stay that way. And our brethren?"
"Wanting some Primordial blood," Hyperion said calmly.
Kronos chuckled. "And our uncle?" He asked, raising his voice slightly.
"Readying his supporters, and preparing for them to all die."