Ch. 13
PERCY'S POV
"Percy! Wake up fast! It's an emergency!"
"What's got your panties in a twist at such a time El?" I muttered sleepily. What? It was 2:30 in the morning, who replies politely at such an hour?
"It's about Filos! He's seriously wounded and is calling for you!"
I awoke with a start. It took me a few seconds to comprehend what Elmont was screaming outside my door, but once the words sunk in I didn't wait a minute before putting my mask and uniform on, and in about a minute and a half, I was facing a nervous, very worried looking Elmont.
"The wounds are deep Percy, it's clear he tried to defend himself very bravely, but the arrow with which he was hit was poisonous, fatal enough to kill him. "
"What! What are you saying Elmont! Do you mean.. are you saying..?" I couldn't even complete the statement mentally, let alone speak it out loud.
"Holy Chaos Percy, of course not! Weren't you listening when I woke you? He's alive Perce but in critical condition. Let's go fast. He'll want you the most at such times."
I quickly held Elmont's hand and teleported us to the sickbay. "Where is he! Why can't I see him anywhere!" I screamed.
"Holy Hemera Percy, calm down! You think we would have a 20-foot tallert in our sickbay meant for beings not even half the size?"
Elmont shouted back frustratingly before continuing, "Follow me. He's being cared for and treated in one of the pegasi stables."
Elmont led me to the stables. As I got closer, I could hear a soft groaning noise. I rushed to where the voice was coming from.
What I saw left my mouth agape and eyes wide open. Filos was being treated by almost all the healers: old and young, experienced and inexperienced likewise, and yet all this treatment seemed to be having absolutely no effect on his wounds. His whole body was covered in scars, but what was most agonizing for me to watch was his chest. There was a baseball-sized see-through hole in his chest, from where a green-colored liquid of some sort - probably the poison from that arrow, was spewing out. That was the main injury the healers were all after. I immediately grabbed Filos' paws and held them tightly.
"You'll get better, big guy, don't worry. I'll be here until you need me."
"I know you will Percy, I know you will. But you know this is a serious injury. So look, just in case-"
"Don't. Don't you dare complete that sentence, Filos. Nothing's gonna happen to you."
To my surprise, Filos started chuckling.
"What? The wound is affecting your brain? "
"It's you who should get your brain checked Perce. Do you really think I would even think of something as demoralizing as death? What I was about to say was that just in case I am unable to heal before the war, there's something you should know and take care of immediately."
I narrowed my eyes, not liking the sound of this. This big creature was so unafraid in life and confident of his strength, he was hardly ever serious. "What is it?" I asked.
"I've come to know that there's a traitor at Camp Half-Blood."
"What! Who? And how do you know about this, Filos? Has that got anything to do with your injury? I swear I'll kill that bas-wait, how in the world-"
"Calm down Percy. Don't ask so many questions. I...ah this green thing is painful...so as I was saying...I was just passing by a planet when a few old friends of mine told me about this. We're not sure about the name, but as far as they know it's a child of the Olympian God Hermes. As to how I am in such a predicament, you have our old friend Thesor to thank for that." He ended bitterly.
"Thesor? Of the Aspiron planet? What did he do? He was a good informer for me for a long time."
"He has sided with End, Percy, and it seems like his first job was to eliminate all who ally with the demigods. But obviously he couldn't attack here otherwise he would be handed his ass on a platter, but he saw me traveling and grasped that opportunity."
"He's not that strong. How did he manage to injure you so severely?"
"He must've called for End's minions - a lot of them when he saw me. Then he called me to have a chat. I wasn't aware he had switched sides. Suddenly a few moments later I was attacked by various creatures. I was barely managing to defeat them when that traitor made his move. The result, well, you can see this hole in my chest. "
While Filos was narrating this incident, he was constantly wincing in pain. With every wince, my anger was rising.
"Two things I know for sure, Filos. One - you will heal in time for this war and accompany me, two - it's 3 in the morning, Thesor isn't gonna see the sunrise today." I growled.
Filos just nodded, he knew it was useless to stop me when I made up my mind, and besides, we both agreed that Thesor more than deserved it.I hate two kinds of people the most - traitors, and liers. He's both. Soon he'll be neither, nonexistent if I may say so.
1.5 hours later
I was pissed. No, beyond pissed. I was maddeningly furious. Why? Well, you know I pledged to kill Thesor before sundown? That's done, no problem. But while I was on it, there was a surprise attack on my Army base at Regalia, a planet close to Celestio. The soldiers were obviously skilled enough to escape without a casualty on our side. Intel suggests they were End's minions, but I didn't have to be informed by them to know that.
So, my killing Thesor was a well-planned distraction, and I fell for it. That's what was more frustrating. Not that he attacked, that's what villains do. But I fell for it. Apparently, he knew I'd go get a guy who betrayed me and attacked Filos. So he planned to almost get Filos killed just to ensure my absence.
Okay. Enough of this shit now. He needs to realize what he's up against. The next time I see his minions, I'll make an example out of them.
"This is lieutenant Elmont for Commander Stormbringer. Sir, Commander Stormbringer, we have a situation here on Earth, do you copy?" My walkie-talkie buzzed. Now? Seriously? Couldn't there have been another time for trouble to brew?
"This is the commander, go ahead Elmont. What happened?" I replied.
"Sir, we have received reports of a possible attack on Camp Half-Blood. Our enemies have raised an army, roughly 20,000 monsters along with giants - we don't know which giants or how many. We need you."
"Giants? We were informed they wouldn't rise at all in time for war!"
"Yeah, well, apparently they have. If Filos is fine and you could come, that'd be great. The numbers aren't anything we can't handle, of course, so stay with Filos if you have to."
"He's fine now. I'll be there in a few."
"Roger, what are your orders till then?
"Gather the boys and hold on the borders if you have to. Keep the campers out of this. It's a direct order. We'll deal with this my style, over. "
"Right sir. Over and out."
I was pretty sure Elmont could feel the growl in my voice.
20,000 enemies. Great. No better time to set an example. The campers as well will stay in check after today.
I went to Skylar, bid her farewell, checked on Filos - he was asleep.
Then I teleported back, directly to my cabin's room in the camp.
I quickly gathered the remainder of my weapons I'd left in a hurry.
I could hear noises coming from outside, arguments, more precisely. Annabeth and Elmont. I should have anticipated this.
The campers, especially the immortal ones, won't appreciate me leaving them out of the fight. I strolled out in my full battle armor. The soldiers were standing in a line formation just at the boundary of the camp, with the campers behind them.
Apparently, Chiron had convinced the campers that if I had given an order I must've thought about it before, but the immortal campers were all impatient to fight. I couldn't blame them, they'd been training for a long time, and hadn't tried it out on anyone.
"Miss Chase, Jason and you all. I req-" Nico cut me off.
"You can order your army all you like, but not us, commander, you're not our commander, and Chiron knows better than to keep us out. We're not children."
"You're not. But this isn't about you. It's about me. You may not know this, but I have a constant companion and a very close friend of mine who I was going to introduce to you all today. Instead, End played a few dirty tricks and now he's in a critical condition on my home planet. He'll live, but there was this chance he wouldn't make it. While I was punishing the traitor who did this, there was an attack on my Army's base. End again. No casualties, but could have been. He wants to take out all your allies. I need to warn him to not make it personal, that the Army of Peace is not to be messed with." By this time the whole camp - Greeks, Romans, Hunters, Amazons, Chiron, even Lupa was here.
"What do you mean, personal? You have readied a whole army, so why not add us? Just us immortal campers, Thalia, Hylla... The experienced ones. The rest of the campers can be on standby." Reyna said.
"Readying an army doesn't mean I'll use them. I haven't used my powers in a long while. The army stays as a guard, while I'll be fighting the enemy. Singlehandedly. We know their numbers, and I certainly won't get a better chance to put forth my views about End. Trust me just this once. I know you're all dying to fight, but this is the beginning. Save your energy for later. Things are gonna get much more messy and gory, you need to be at your best for them. "
Some more arguments and some insistence from Chiron and Lupa later, they all eventually nodded, but not before I agreed they could join the fight if there were more than 2 giants. Some seemed less convinced than the others, but they all agreed, that's what mattered.
Just as they all nodded in unison, the conch blew, signaling that the enemy was within a visible range.
"You can relax and do your daily activities, or you can watch, the choice is yours. I'll be going now, I have a fight to win, a primordial to piss." I smirked.
With that, I set off to the boundary, and I could see them.
Excellent.
Just 2 giants, Poryphrion and... oh Holy Chaos...Polybotes. He might recognize me, he's the anti-Poseidon after all. I need to keep him distracted with something else while I take out the others so that I can make quick work of him so that he is dead before he can give me away.
"Soldiers, rain down arrows on Polybotes until I'm done with the rest of the army. Now. " I commanded.
And so it began. The soldiers had him occupied, but it wouldn't be for long. I needed to hurry up. I gave up all my restraint, unleashing myself on the army. Slash, stab, thwack, kill, find another monster. Occasional lightning strikes and hurricanes transformed some monsters into golden dust before they could react. That's how it went until in under two minutes the whole army was destroyed. Porphyrion and Polybotes both looked shell-shocked, and I could bet the campers resembled these expressions, even though I didn't have time to glance back. Polybotes was still getting rained down with arrows, so I attacked Poryphiron.
"You puny creature! You will die today! "
"Just fight, and we'll find out," I growled.
I could have used my water powers here, but giving away that I was a son of Poseidon wouldn't be a smart move. Me being the assassin hellfire, wielder of the deadly hellfire was also a secret that needed to be well guarded. That was only for when I would face End. But I still had a lot of tricks up my sleeve.
I concentrated on the ground beneath Poryphiron, and with a strong wave, I made the ground shake. Just that part of the ground. I made a fist and Poryphiron's legs were caught in the ground.
"Mo...Mother... What are you doing?" He screamed, taken aback.
"It's not your mother, stupid. Just because she's the earth doesn't mean only she can use the ground's power," I smirked. I then made a motion with my hand up to down, with my palms open and facing the ground. A bolt of lightning that could rival Zeus' bolt struck the giant square in the chest. He fell down hard on the ground. I unsheathed my sword and ran like a blur to the fallen giant, jumping high in the air from a distance, landing directly on his now severely charred chest.
"Tell End that wars are fought in battlefields, giant. If he makes it personal there's not a place in the Universe where I'll not find him and...End him, so to speak." With that, I struck with my sword and sliced his head off, which started disintegrating until nothing was left of him.
"Brother! What have you done, you insolent masked being! You dare kill him! I'll kill you so painfully you'll beg for death! " Polybotes screamed, cursing me in ancient Greek.
"He said something similar, see where it got him."
He ran towards me with anger and murder raging in his eyes. I simply pointed my palm to him, facing him, and created a wall. The giant hit the wall with such force that he fell back a few feet. He stammered back a few feet. I used another lightning bolt, but Polybotes expected this and deflected it with his trident.
3rd Person's POV/ NARRATOR'S POV:
But Percy still had a few more things up his sleeves. He summoned dark clouds above them and in a slow movement, he began to move his hand in a circle. This resulted in a huge tornado, and the clouds burst to pour down rain along with lightning and thunder.
But all this was only in the particular part of the land where the giant stood. To the demigods, this looked terrifying, but the army didn't even as much as flinch at their commander's raw display of power.
The giant was caught in a massive tornado with rain, thunder, and lightning. His job was done, a statement of power was delivered to his enemies. So he decided to finish this. He thrust his hand towards the giant, making him fall backward with a sickening crunch.
The impact and the effects of the storm were so severe that Polybotes disintegrated the moment he hit the ground. When he turned back, he saw his army smiling, and the terrified looks in the campers' eyes.
Well, apparently he had some explaining to do.